Ghana's Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu will meet teacher union leaders to resolve outstanding validation challenges delaying the payment of promotion salary arrears to 28,000 teachers.
The Minister invited the unions to an emergency meeting to discuss the difficulties preventing the affected teachers from completing the validation process. He appealed to the teachers not to resume their industrial action.
The government had paid the promotion arrears of 52,000 teachers who successfully completed the validation process by October 16. About 28,000 applicants, including some non-teaching staff, are yet to receive their payments because their validation remains incomplete.
The Minister said the government was considering reprocessing the outstanding payments, with the aim of settling them by mid-November or the end of November 2026.
The planned meeting follows the suspension of industrial action by teachers over delays in paying their promotion arrears. The Education Minister said a supplementary allocation for October could be considered as an alternative to facilitate the payments. The government is committed to resolving the matter and facilitating payment of the outstanding arrears.
The issue of teacher arrears is part of a broader challenge facing Ghana's education sector, which has seen significant investment in recent years. The government has increased spending on education, with a focus on improving teacher training and school infrastructure. However, the sector still faces challenges, including a shortage of qualified teachers and inadequate funding.
According to Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu, the government is working to address these challenges and ensure that teachers receive the support they need to deliver quality education. The meeting with teacher unions is a key step in this process, and the government is committed to finding a solution that works for all parties involved.