A concerned citizen, Elikplim Agbemava has dragged the government to court over the creation of three new institutions in the educational sector.
These are the National Teaching Council, the National Inspectorate Board and the National Council for Curriculum Assessment.
Mr Agbemava who is an aspiring flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), filed the writ at the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of a number of institutions created to supervise aspects of education in the country.
He said, the creation of the National Teaching Council, National Inspectorate Board and the National Council for Curriculum Assessment by parliament to manage Ghana’s educational system is unconstitutional because parliament had no such power to create them.
Besides, he believes the only body mandated to manage and ensure quality in Ghana’s educational system is the Ghana Education Service.
He is therefore invoking the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to grant a number of reliefs in the suit the Attorney General, National Teaching Council, National Inspectorate Board and the National Council for Curriculum Assessment are all defendants.
Eli as he is popularly called, is a very articulate lawyer, who worked with leading law firms such as Shawbell Consulting, Lawfields Consulting, Ntrakwa & Co. and Addison and Associates. He also worked with Bank of Africa (formerly AMAL Bank) before joining the Public Service as a State Attorney. During his public service, Eli served as Special Assistant to the Attorney General and the Minister of Education of the Republic of Ghana for 5 years.
He was a key part of the team that carried out an assessment of corporate governance regime in Ghana under the World Bank/International Monetary Fund Report on Standards and Codes and brings on board experience from the banking and finance sector.
Eli filed the suit on Thursday in his capacity as “a concerned citizen of Ghana”.
The specific reliefs the lawyer seeks are;
1. A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 190 (1) (a) and 3 of the 1992 Constitution, Parliament lacked the power to create new public institutions, namely the National Teaching Council, National Inspectorate Board and the National Council for Curriculum Assessment to manage Ghana’s educational system.
2. A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 190 (1) (a) and (3) of the 1992 constitution, the Education Service established under Article 190 and the Ghana Education Service Act of 1995 (Act 506) is the only and sole public body mandated by the 1992 constitution to manage, administer, execute and regulate an educational system (including setting professional standards for teachers) in Ghana that will produce well balanced individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills, values, aptitudes and attitudes to become functional and productive citizens for the total development and the democratic advancement of the nation as envisaged under the Education Act of 2008 (Act 778).
3. A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 190 (1) (a) and (3) of the 1992 constitution the creation of the National Teaching Council, National Inspectorate Board and the National Council for Curriculum Assessment is unconstitutional.
4. A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Art 17 and 296 of the 1992 constitution the Guidelines and procedures for the Licensure Examination for only newly trained teachers is discriminatory, arbitrary, an abuse of power and inconsistent with the 1992 Constitution and therefore unconstitutional.
6. A declaration that a “trained qualified teacher” is a person who has sat and passed all the modules, contents and methodology of the various courses of the Colleges of Education as established by the Colleges of Education Act, 2012 and certified by the University of Cape Coast or the National Accreditation Board, National Teaching Council’s and “registered” by the Ghana Education Service as a person qualified to teach at the pre-tertiary level and not by virtue of any licensure exam supposedly organised by the National Teaching Council established under the Education Act, 2008 (Act 778) as amended.
7. An interim injunction directed at the National Teaching Council, its assigns and delegated authorities to stop, cease or halt the ongoing registration and intended examination of only newly qualified teachers pursuant to the Guidelines and procedures for the Licensure Examination until the final determination of this suit.
