-First Govt to Introduce CPD in Private Schools, Train Over 3000 Teachers on Mental Health, 170,000 Loading
By Philip Antoh
In a historic first for Ghana’s education sector, the Ministry of Education has partnered with private schools to observe Friday, October 30, 2026, as National Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Day.
The maiden edition of the day was a deliberate initiative by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to bring teachers in private schools into the government’s teacher professionalism agenda.
The CPD programme is a collaboration between the National Schools Inspectorate Authority (NaSIA), the National Teaching Council (NTC) and private schools, and is expected to be held annually to train teachers in the private education sector on professionalism.
To ensure a smooth rollout, the programme was piloted in three regions — Eastern, Greater Accra and Bono East — reaching over 3,000 private school teachers. Officers drawn from NaSIA, the NTC and private school leadership undertook a monitoring tour of the training centres, which recorded massive turnout.
Approval and Organisation
The initiative was approved by GES following a joint request from the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) and the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS), in collaboration with bodies including the National Teaching Council (NTC) and NaSIA.
The training was held under the theme: “Mental Health and Psychosocial Well-being of Teachers”, focusing on stress management, emotional intelligence, resilience and coping with pressure.
As part of the arrangements, GES granted private school students a holiday to enable their teachers to fully participate in the exercise.
“Time Has Evolved” Inspector-General of Schools
The leader of the monitoring delegation, the Inspector-General of Schools, Prof. Azeko Salifu Tahiru, said time has evolved to attend to the social-emotional wellbeing of teachers, and that for the first time, government had reached out to private schools, recognising them as important players in the country’s educational development.
He added that President Mahama had decided that private school teachers should receive this training every year to keep them abreast of developments in the world.
“And you know, again, the most important thing is that we have this in the public schools, and we have never had this in the private schools. And we think that the private school teachers are also there to help educate the children we have in the country,” he stated.
According to him, the training will help private school teachers develop themselves emotionally, mentally and socially, so they can deliver the best for Ghanaian children.
Massive Turnout; Nationwide Rollout in Two Weeks
On the turnout, the NaSIA boss said monitoring in the centres showed that private school teachers are ready and eager to upgrade themselves and improve their teaching skills.
“It’s beyond our expectations. All the centres we monitored so far recorded a massive turnout, even though it was the pilot. In two weeks’ time, we will enrol all private school teachers nationwide,” he said.
Prof. Tahiru stressed that participation is not optional but mandatory.
“We are currently reviewing our special education framework, and we are going to make sure that CPD is part of it. It is a mandatory requirement for all school owners to have it,” he said.
He cautioned that a time is coming when inspectors visit a school and find that its teachers do not have CPD, and that could count against the school. He also announced the introduction of the National School Award this year.
Target: 200,000 Private School Teachers
The Executive Director of GNACOPS, Obeng Kwasi Gyetua, said the programme is targeting at least 200,000 private school teachers across the country.
He said the focus is teacher development, and the monitoring exercise so far has proven that private school teachers have welcomed the CPD programme and are ready to improve.
Mr Gyetua also sought to dispel the notion among some Ghanaians that private schools do not employ professional teachers, adding that with the CPD programme in place, that assertion will become a thing of the past.
Teachers Yet to Register Urged to Contact District Offices
On her part, the Greater Accra Regional President of GNAPS, Dr. Aisha Asi Akrofi, commended school proprietors and headteachers for supporting the project.
She advised teachers who could not register for the maiden edition to visit their district education offices to register, assuring them that a date will be rescheduled for each of them.