The Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination (GTLE) was taken by 7,728 aspiring teachers last month, but only 1,277 of them succeeded.
This means that 6,481 candidates, or 83.5 per cent, failed the exam, which is meant to license qualified teachers.
According to the Registrar of GTLE, Dr Christian Addai-Poku, all the candidates had taken the exam at least twice before, and some as many as nine times.
He told the Daily Graphic that he was worried about the high failure rate and said that the candidates had one more opportunity to retake the exam later this year before it changed its format and content.
He said the new exam, called the Subject-based GTLE, would start later this year and would test the candidates on their specific areas of speciality, in addition to numeracy, literacy and professional skills.
He said the new exam would apply to fresh teacher trainees who would be taking it for the first time.
He also said that candidates who would fail again and would want to resit the exam would need to have a first degree, and those with a diploma would have to upgrade themselves.
The GTLE was introduced in 2018 by the National Teaching Council (NTC) under the Education Act, 2008 (Act 778) to improve the professional status and standards of teachers and to license and register them in Ghana.
The exam aims to attract excellent young graduates from universities and colleges of education who have the necessary professional knowledge, skills and attitudes to teach effectively in schools.
