About 80,000 teachers who wrote and passed their promotion examinations will be placed on their right salary scales and receive the expected salaries per their promotions, effective this month.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) is expected to provide the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department with the necessary data to facilitate the necessary adjustments and payments to affected teachers who have been due for promotion.
This was the outcome of a crunch meeting last Monday between the three teacher unions — Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG), on one side, and the government on the other, held at the Ministry of Education.
In attendance were the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, his deputy, Dr Clement Apaak; the Director-General of GES, Professor Ernest Kofi Davies, and the Controller and the Accountant General, Kwasi Agyei, on the government side.
The unions were represented by the General Secretary of GNAT, Thomas Musah, the President of NAGRAT, Jacob Anaba, and the President of PRETAG, King Awudu Ali.
Threat
Members of the union last Thursday threatened to withdraw their services if by August 31, 2026 their members who were successful in the promotion exams were not placed on the right salary scales.
They demanded that the effective date for the salary placement be back-dated to December 2025, rather than July 2026.
Following the engagement last Monday, the teacher unions agreed to call off their proposed strike , following assurances and concrete measures agreed upon to resolve the matter.
Among the key resolutions is that teachers will not be required to travel to their respective District Education Offices to submit pay slips for the purpose of salary-scale placement.
Promotions
Briefing the media after the meeting, Dr Apaak said the issues were mainly two: the issue of teachers providing documentation as a prerequisite to put them on their right salary scales based on the promotions that they had legitimately earned, and “the start date, which has also been addressed”.
“So the agreement is that all teachers who wrote the promotion exams and passed would have a start date of January 2026.
“It is our expectation that close to 80,000 teachers would be placed on their right salary scales and would receive the expected salaries as per their promotions,” he emphasised.
After the meeting, Dr Apaak said upon hearing the intentions of the teacher unions to lay down their tools in reaction to a process that they felt was unjustified and unfair, the minister instructed him to convene a meeting involving GNAT, NAGRAT and PRETAG.
Outcome
“The outcome of the meeting has been positive, and we can announce that the teacher unions have agreed to continue doing their work, and that means that teaching and learning in our pre-tertiary institutions would continue.
“The issues they raised have been sufficiently addressed,” he said.
Dr Apaak expressed the ministry’s gratitude to the teacher unions and their leadership for indulging us and for agreeing to a compromise that would ensure that teaching and learning continues without any intervention.
Unions
Responding to the development, Mr Musah confirmed the agreement.
He said the teachers were promoted after the aptitude test but there were challenges with them being placed on their required scales, thereafter to be paid.
“Today, we have been able to resolve all those issues. We have agreed that teachers would be placed automatically as requested in our letter.
The second thing is that the substantive date now is January — all the teachers will be paid effective January 2026 instead of the July that was advertised,” he said.
On the payment date, Mr Musah said all efforts were being made to ensure that payment could be effected this month.
Duties
Mr Ali, for his part, called on teachers to continue their normal duties, and “we look forward for us to be put on scale in September.”
“The agreement is also that those who would not be able to go through in September, a supplementary list would be raised after September for them to be put on the right scale,” he said.
Agreement
Mr Anaba assured all affected members that their concerns were being addressed, adding that the current resolution was only the beginning and that other issues raised in their correspondence with the authorities would be resolved in due course.
