On 22/8/17 we published a story with the headline: ”Danquah Institute against Licensing of Teachers” based on a press release we received from the Danquah institute, signed by Executive Director, Dr. Kingsley Nyarko.
After further editorial deliberation, we admit that the publication was unprofessional and born out of laziness on the part of our reporter Kwabena Danso Dapaah and the whole edtorial team.
We hereby render an unqualified apology to the Danquah institute and the Executive Director, Dr. Kingsley Nyarko for any inconvenience the story may have caused.
We have therefore taken the story off our website and published a rejoinder accordingly.
Thank you
Below is the Institute’s full rejoinder:
Our attention has been drawn to a publication on the above topic on 22/8/17 by Kwabena Danso-Dapaah, an online reporter of OTEC FM—a radio station based in Kumasi. The writer’s reportage of our press statement issued on 21/8/17 titled, “Teaching License will benefit Teachers” is not only misleading, but wrong, inaccurate, capricious, ill-intended and sought to water down the impact of our publication on the on-going debate on the proposed policy intervention meant to benefit not only our school system, but teachers in particular. The writer states in the first paragraph, “Policy think tank affiliate to the ruling [New] Patriotic Party, Danquah Institute has kicked against the introduction of the licencing examination for teachers in the country.”
We want to state unequivocally that nowhere in our publication, did we, either directly or indirectly state that we are against the policy. In fact, we support it, endorse it, and hope that the various stakeholders in the education sector come to a closure on how to implement it to the benefit of our schools. How can a publication with the heading, “Teaching License will benefit Teachers” kick against the policy? This is very weird, and questions the competence and credibility of the writer.
Again, the writer’s statement that we “admonished government to give a second thought of plans to introduce licensing examination for teachers” is a complete falsehood. We never stated that in our statement. Citing a statement from our press statement, he either deliberately decided to misrepresent our position or did not understand it.
This is what we captured in our statement in paragraph 3, “It will be erroneous and misleading to assume that licensing of teachers is the panacea to improving our school system; however, it will be a panacea, and its implementation must be encouraged without situating the debate only within the myriad of issues that confront the education sector.
We need to dispassionately analyse the policy, and see how we can make it better to benefit our school system.” How can this statement represent an objection to the policy to require the government to reconsider her decision to implement it? We rather encourage discussions that seek to look at the positives of the policy.
Reading the publication of the writer, we are surprised that a press statement that is very easy to comprehend, and calls for the various stakeholders to look at the strength of the policy in order to take advantage of it to our collective advantage be distorted in this manner. We would like to reiterate our position by encouraging the stakeholders and the public to embrace this worthwhile policy after addressing the various issues raised.
We would like the writer/OTEC FM to retract this false and misleading publication and render an unqualified apology to the institute. We would also encourage the management of the radio station to examine what their reporters or editors put within the public space for consumption. There is no doubt that the content of the publication of Mr. Kwabena Danso-Dappah, not only questions his professional competence, but also tarnishes the enviable legacy of OTEC FM in our media landscape over the years.
Signed
Dr. Kingsley Nyarko
(Executive Director)
