7,000 Graduate teachers to be recruited for deprived areas
The Ministry of Education has been granted clearance for the recruitment of 7,000 graduates from colleges of education and other institutions of higher learning that specialise in the development of teachers.
The minister also announced that approval had been granted tertiary institutions for limited recruitment to beef up their faculties.
“I am happy to note and announce that the Ministry of Education has received clearance and approval from the Ministry of Finance for the recruitment of teachers across the country,” the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, announced at a media briefing yesterday.
He said the ministry wanted the process to be open, transparent and competitive, and, therefore, “graduates from the 2023-2024-2025 cohort may apply for placement to be teachers across the country”.
Priority areas
The minister further announced that priority would be given to those ready and willing to serve in deprived areas where there were significant gaps and deficits in the availability of teachers.
Mr Iddrisu directed the Ghana Education Service (GES), led by the Director-General, Professor Ernest Kofi Davis, to open the GES application portal from Friday, April 10, 2026.
“The portal should be open, competitive, a transparent process, but with emphasis on those willing to go where government wants them to go; deprived rural areas as I have indicated,” the minister further stated.
Mr Iddrisu further announced that President John Dramani Mahama had requested the ministry “to work to decentralise the operations of the Ghana Education Service”.
He said when the approval of the decentralisation policy of government eventually came through, both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education would work the process of a decentralised regime.
Mr Iddrisu, however, gave the assurance that it would be feasible and possible with assured financing of the decentralised devolution function of the GES.
The minister acknowledged that there had been strong calls for government to provide employment opportunities for the recruitment of teachers across the country, in particular to serve the deprived and safe areas in the provision of education across the country.
He said education remained a key priority of President Mahama's Reset Agenda, adding that the government intended to invest heavily in education.
The minister said the government was also mindful of the growing unemployment in the country and the growing demands of young people for employment opportunities.
“I am also well aware that in the last couple of months, a number of students have graduated from our colleges of education and other institutions of higher learning that specialise in the development of teachers,” he stated.
Replacement
Touching on the tertiary education space, the minister announced that approval had also been granted for “some limited recruitment to beef up their faculties and to renew their faculty as we continue to work in public tertiary institutions’’.
Mr Iddrisu announced that a total of 1,200 faculty members would be recruited for the replacement covering all public tertiary institutions, adding that “that will be distributed in a communication that will be issued to them by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission”.
He said in his view, it should be possible to have automaticity, where there was automatic replacement of a lecturer exiting, but added that “we are still discussing with the Minister of Finance, and as and when we are ready, we will let you know”.
