Cabinet Okays 6,200 teacher postings: Clearance makes way for payment of arrears - Education Minister
Cabinet has given approval for 6,200 teachers who have been working for several months without pay to be absorbed onto the government payroll.
The approval, which also includes financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance, will pave the way for the payment of arrears owed to the affected teachers.
“Cabinet has given approval for the 6,200 teachers to be absorbed, and the process will begin in due course.
They will also receive their back pay,” the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, announced at a news conference in Accra yesterday.
Mr Iddrisu disclosed that the approval formed part of a broader government decision to spend about GH¢1.1 billion to absorb a category of health workers and teachers across the country.
Background
The announcement follows agitation by a group of unpaid teachers made up of graduates from colleges of education and universities.
The group had indicated that it would continue to demonstrate publicly to draw the government’s attention to its concerns.
The notice of a prospective public protest to be staged on October 30 came after an initial September 23 deadline had elapsed without any official response from the Ministry of Education.
The group had suggested that newly posted teachers from colleges of education had worked for 12 whole months without receiving a salary, while their counterparts from universities had gone eight months without pay.
However, the Minister of Education indicated that the approval by Cabinet and the subsequent financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance would erase the concerns of the teachers, some of whom were posted before the close of 2024.
School placement
Turning his attention to the ongoing senior high school placement exercise, Mr Iddrisu acknowledged the challenges that had sparked public concern in recent weeks.
He, however, explained that while there were only 76,000 vacancies available in Category A schools, the system had received over 393,000 qualified applications from a mix of categories of students, making equitable placements a significant challenge.
“How can you fill 76,000 vacancies with 393,000 qualified applicants? That’s a near impossibility,” he said.
Mr Iddrisu attributed part of the placement pressure to the high demand for Category A schools, which have turned out to be parents’ preferred choices due to their reputation for academic excellence, whereas no new infrastructure had been added to such schools in the past year, limiting their capacity.
To promote equity and access, the minister revealed plans to upgrade and reclassify schools across categories over the next two years.
“I’ve had discussions with the President, and with his support, we plan to convert at least 10 Category C schools into Category B, and 10 Category B schools to Category A.
This will be backed by infrastructure expansion, new dormitories, and improved teaching and learning facilities,” he said.
He also expressed concern that some regions, including North East, Savannah, Oti and Western North, currently had no Category A schools, describing the situation as a major challenge that undermined educational balance across the country.
“We must find an ingenious way to ensure that students in those regions are not left behind. I’ll be deliberate about infrastructure support to those regions,” he said.
The minister reaffirmed the government’s commitment to transparency and fairness in managing the school placement system, assuring parents and stakeholders that reforms were underway to make it more equitable.
