About 28,000 Ghana Education Service (GES) staff awaiting promotion salary arrears may have to wait until November for payment because their records are yet to be validated, the Education Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, has said.
The delay could push payments beyond the October 30 deadline previously announced by the minister, who said the government was considering a supplementary payment in November or deferring the outstanding amounts until the middle or end of the month.
Speaking in a radio show on Joy FM on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, Mr Iddrisu said he had scheduled an emergency meeting with teacher union leaders to discuss the outstanding payments.
He said the government had paid promotion arrears to 52,000 beneficiaries whose records had been validated, leaving about 28,000 cases outstanding. The remaining beneficiaries include some non-teaching staff.
“The 52,000 promotion arrears on the new grade was honoured by government and paid by government on the 16th of October,” he said.
Mr Iddrisu explained that the outstanding beneficiaries might not receive their arrears with their October salaries because the validation exercise had not been completed.
He said the exercise could begin on October 28 or, at the earliest, on Friday, after which the verified records would have to be entered into the payroll system for payment.
“We cannot delay payment of salaries across the country in order to validate that,” he said.
The minister said the emergency meeting, scheduled for 11 a.m. on Tuesday, would allow the government and the teacher unions to discuss how to resolve the outstanding claims.
He urged the affected staff to remain calm and continue working while the government worked to settle the arrears.
Mr Iddrisu attributed the delay largely to administrative difficulties involving the GES and the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD).
He said the government had opted for manual validation instead of automatic processing, delaying the completion of the exercise.
On whether funds were available to settle the arrears, the minister said the Finance Minister had assured the negotiating parties that provision had been made for the payments in the budget.
He maintained that the outstanding payments were being delayed by administrative processes rather than a lack of funds.
Mr Iddrisu said the government would discuss with the union leaders whether to make a supplementary payment or schedule the outstanding amounts for later in November.
October deadline
The latest development follows an earlier assurance by Mr Iddrisu that teachers' promotion arrears would be paid by October 30, 2026.
The arrears dispute was among the grievances that led three pre-tertiary teacher unions to declare a nationwide strike on September 25, 2026.
The unions suspended the strike on October 9 following engagements with the government and relevant institutions. They directed their members to return to the classroom on October 12 while discussions on their outstanding grievances continued.
