Over 50,000 teachers receive promotions

Up to 50,458 teachers out of a total of 54,227 teachers who were successful in last year’s aptitude test have been promoted, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has confirmed.

In addition, GNAT said 1,417 out of 1,579 teachers removed from the payroll have also had their salaries reactivated, with only the remaining 162 yet to be impacted.

"We can confirm that out of the 54,227 teachers who were successful in the 2024 aptitude test for promotion, 50,458 have been placed on their correct grades in April 2025.

The outstanding, together with the backlog of the 2023 batch, to be placed in May 2025," a letter signed by the General Secretary of GNAT, Thomas Musah, to members of the association said.

It said the development followed a meeting with the Ghana Education Service (GES) on Friday, April 25, 2025.

On lower rank promotions, it said as of last Friday, the GES had informed the unions that all 16 regions had submitted the data, and the placement would be effected in May 2025.

Regarding the upgrading relative to returnees from further studies, the statement indicated that “a significant number of teachers in this category had not been upgraded, since 2023”.

Agreement

The communication said it had been agreed that all such teachers would be upgraded by the end of May 2025.

"The Director-General of Ghana Education Service (GES) has promised to write to the Regional Directors to ensure that the upgrading is done without fail," it said.

A stakeholders meeting, it said, would be held in May 2025, to fix dates for the next aptitude test for promotion.

It said all the outstanding issues in the Collective Agreement for GES staff would be addressed next month, prominent among them being the salary disparities on the Single Spine Pay Structure.

The teacher union consequently expressed gratitude to President John Mahama for the 20 per cent allowance for teachers in deprived areas.

Gratitude

"The Teacher Unions express our gratitude to His Excellency the President of the Republic for his pronouncement on its payment, following the understanding that work on it is to be done, commencing May 2025," the statement said.

With regard to the decoupling of Director 2 and Director 1, it said: "We again express our gratitude to His Excellency for the decoupling of Director 2 and subsequently Director 1 from being coterminous with political districts and regions, thus paving the way for the promotion of Deputy Directors to Director 2, and subsequently Director 1.

"It's welcome news, and we hope to work with the relevant stakeholders to bring it to fruition," it said.

The statement further commended the President for the supply of sanitary pads to female learners, and expressed the hope that it would attain the envisaged outcomes.

"We wish to assure our members that the unions, together with the relevant parties, are working tirelessly to conclude discussions on all other issues, and we shall not fail you," the statement said.

GNAT reaction

Mr Musah later told the Daily Graphic that the development was a breakthrough between the government and teachers.

“We would like to express our profound gratitude to the President, at least, for his timely intervention,” he said.

He said since the issues came up, the GES had been very forthcoming, and expressed the hope that by next month, “we will be able to resolve the issue”. 

Background

GNAT had given the government up to April 30, 2025, to address all issues affecting teachers.

The issues included the non-implementation of the Scheme of Service for GES staff and the implementation of the Human Resource Management Information System, which GNAT said had caused some challenges to teachers, including delays in their salaries and promotion.

The demands were part of the directives given by the National Labour Commission after meeting three teacher unions and their employers, represented by ministries and the GES, after the unions embarked on strike on March 20 last year.

At the time, the commission communicated that “having heard the disputes and having met the parties jointly and in separate (caucus) sessions, made some findings and thereby gave some directives, among which was that since the GES had no Scheme of Service for the GES Staff, and to ensure that future appointments do not encounter such challenges, the GES must provide its staff with a Scheme of Service”.