The government has given the Ghana Education Service (GES) until October 5, 2026, to submit outstanding data on promoted teachers, as it seeks to address one of the key concerns behind the ongoing nationwide strike by teacher unions.
Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu says the government has also set out timelines for negotiations on teachers’ Collective Agreement and the implementation of the 20% Deprived Area Allowance.
Mr. Iddrisu announced this following a crunch meeting on Monday, where he appealed to the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG) to suspend the industrial action and return to the classroom while discussions continue.
“I have engaged in very open and frank negotiations with the teacher unions over their industrial action. The government team is in touch with them to call off the strike action whilst negotiations continue,” he said.
The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) is expected to meet the teacher unions on Tuesday, September 29, to continue negotiations on the Collective Agreement and other conditions of service.
The previous agreement has expired, with its renewal forming part of the concerns raised by the unions.
On the 20% rural deprived allowance, Mr Iddrisu said government has constituted a validation committee chaired by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.
The committee will work with the teacher unions to validate the data required for implementation and develop a roadmap for the payment of the allowance.
According to the Minister, government remains committed to commencing implementation in January 2027, subject to the completion of the validation process.
“Be assured that the government of President Mahama remains committed to rolling out the rural deprived 20% allowance effective January 2027, subject to the validation of the data and the fine roadmap to which the teacher union will be adequately represented,” he said.
On promoted teachers who are yet to be placed on their appropriate salary grades, Mr Iddrisu said the GES Director-General had been directed to submit the outstanding information to the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD).
He said the exercise would continue until 4pm on Monday, October 5, 2026, to enable CAGD process the salaries of affected teachers on their new grades.
“The data of promoted teachers to the Controller and Accountant-General for him to process payment of salaries on the new grade having been promoted at the end of October. That is what government can do for them,” he said.
The Education Minister said the GES Director-General would work through the weekend under the supervision of the Employment and Labour Relations Minister, with representatives of the teacher unions involved in the exercise.
Regional directors and input officers are also expected to be brought to Accra to accelerate the compilation and submission of the data.
Mr Iddrisu said information covering up to 29,000 promoted teachers had so far been received for the payment of arrears.
He, however, explained that the September payroll had already been processed, meaning the new salary grades could not be reflected in September salaries.
“We can’t work back the process. So, the commitment of the Controller and Accountant-General will be to action this for October, and if there is any supplementary arising out of it, he will honour same,” he said.
This means teachers whose data is successfully processed could have their new salary grades reflected from October, with any resulting supplementary payments to be handled by CAGD.
The government’s roadmap follows the rejection by the three teacher unions of an earlier appeal to call off the strike.
GNAT said after Monday’s meeting that teachers would remain at home until they saw concrete action, including arrears reflected on their payslips and credited to their accounts.
The unions have also demanded documented commitments on the implementation of the Deprived Area Allowance rather than verbal assurances.
The nationwide strike by GNAT, NAGRAT and PRETAG began on September 25 and has disrupted teaching and learning across the country, coming shortly after Ghana returned to the September-to-July academic calendar.
Also read:
