The leadership of Ghana’s teacher unions has called off its planned strike following an engagement with the Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, over concerns surrounding the placement of teachers on their appropriate salary scales.
The meeting resulted in a number of resolutions aimed at addressing delays and administrative challenges affecting teachers who have qualified for placement on higher salary scales.
A key decision from the engagement is that teachers will no longer be required to travel to their respective District Education Offices to submit payslips as part of the salary-scale placement process.
The government has also agreed to ensure that close to 80,000 teachers are placed on their correct salary scales, in line with their qualifications and promotions.
As part of the implementation process, the Ghana Education Service (GES) is expected to submit the relevant data to the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department to facilitate the necessary adjustments and payment of salaries.
The agreement follows concerns raised by the teacher unions over delays in implementing the promotions and placing affected teachers on their legitimately earned salary scales.
The unions had threatened industrial action if the concerns were not addressed.
Following the latest engagement and assurances from the Ministry, however, the unions agreed to suspend the planned strike, paving the way for further implementation of the agreed measures.
The Ministry of Education commended the leadership of the teacher unions for what it described as constructive engagement and their commitment to resolving the matter in the interest of the education sector and the welfare of teachers.
The Ministry further reiterated its commitment to working with all relevant stakeholders to ensure that teachers receive their rightful entitlements promptly and that similar administrative challenges do not continue to disrupt the education sector.
