Haruna Iddrisu sets timelines to resolve teachers’ strike, promotion arrears and allowances

Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has announced a government roadmap to address the concerns of striking teacher unions and appealed to them to suspend their nationwide industrial action and return to the classroom.

Mr Iddrisu said the government had engaged the unions in what he described as “very open and frank negotiations” and presented proposals to resolve the issues that triggered the strike.

“I have engaged in very open and frank negotiations with the teacher unions over their industrial action. The government team is in touch with them to call off the strike action whilst negotiations continue,” he said.

The government’s roadmap includes renewed negotiations on the Collective Agreement, a validation exercise for the 20% Deprived Area Allowance and a deadline for the Ghana Education Service (GES) to submit data on promoted teachers for processing on their new salary grades.

The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) is scheduled to meet the teacher unions on Tuesday, September 29, to continue discussions on the Collective Agreement and conditions of service.

The expired Collective Agreement remains one of the key issues behind the strike, with the unions demanding the conclusion of negotiations on a new agreement.

On the proposed 20% Deprived Area Allowance, Mr Iddrisu said the government had established a validation committee under the leadership of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.

The committee will verify the data required for the implementation of the allowance and develop a roadmap in consultation with representatives of the teacher unions.

According to the Minister, the government remains committed to implementing the allowance from January 2027, subject to the completion of the validation exercise.

“Be assured that the government of President Mahama remains committed to rolling out the rural deprived 20% allowance effective January 2027, subject to the validation of the data and the fine roadmap to which the teacher union will be adequately represented,” he said.

On the issue of promoted teachers who are yet to be placed on their appropriate salary grades, Mr Iddrisu said the Director-General of GES had been directed to submit the outstanding data to the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD).

He said the exercise would continue until 4pm on Monday, October 5, 2026, to allow CAGD to process the salaries of affected teachers on their new grades.

Mr Iddrisu added that the GES Director-General would work through the weekend under the supervision of the Employment and Labour Relations Minister, with representatives of the teacher unions participating in the process.

Regional directors and input officers are also expected to be brought to Accra to speed up the compilation and submission of the required data.

The Education Minister disclosed that data covering about 29,000 promoted teachers had so far been received for the processing of their arrears.

However, he explained that September salaries had already been processed, making it impossible to reflect the new salary grades on that month’s payroll.

“We can’t work back the process. So, the commitment of the Controller and Accountant-General will be to action this for October, and if there is any supplementary arising out of it, he will honour same,” he said.

Affected teachers whose data is successfully processed are therefore expected to have their new salary grades reflected from October, with any resulting supplementary payments to be handled by CAGD.

The government’s proposals follow the decision by the three major teacher unions — the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG) — to reject an earlier appeal to return to the classroom.

GNAT said after Monday’s meeting that its members would remain on strike until they saw concrete evidence of action, including arrears reflected on their payslips and credited to their accounts.

The unions have also called for documented commitments on the implementation of the Deprived Area Allowance rather than relying solely on verbal assurances.

With FWSC negotiations scheduled for Tuesday and the GES data-submission deadline set for October 5, the government’s proposed timelines will now be measured against the unions’ demand for tangible evidence of implementation.

The nationwide strike, which began on September 25, has disrupted teaching and learning across the country, coming shortly after Ghana restored the September-to-July academic calendar.

By Esther Padmore Amonoo