The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, is advocating for a stricter approach to the teacher licensure exams.

In a discussion on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Mr. Asare proposed that individuals should only be allowed to take the exam twice.

He stressed that the exam evaluates not just pedagogic skills and subject content knowledge, but also literacy skills.

Mr. Asare argued that candidates who fail the exam the first time due to insufficient English proficiency should not be given another chance.

“Once you demonstrate the incapacity to read and write or demonstrate low proficiency in the English Language that should be it. You cannot learn English in tertiary education, so that should be the end.

“…it is non-negotiable. We shouldn’t allow them to even write it for a second time,” he said on Tuesday.

He asserted that if a prospective teacher cannot demonstrate adequate reading and writing skills in English at that stage, they should not be allowed to retake the exam.

“So that we uphold the standard or improve the standard of the teacher and teaching in our schools, both public and private. So everyone should embrace the Teacher Licensure initiative because our children are those who will stand to benefit,” he explained.