Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has outlined a series of measures to address the grievances behind the ongoing nationwide teachers’ strike, including timelines for negotiations on a new collective agreement, payment of promotion-related salaries and implementation of the 20% deprived-area allowance.
Speaking in an interview on Radio Gold 90.5 FM, Mr Iddrisu appealed to striking teachers to return to the classroom while government and the unions work towards resolving their outstanding concerns.
His intervention follows a meeting on Monday, September 28, between government and the leadership of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-GH). The unions began nationwide industrial action on Friday, September 25.
Mr Iddrisu described the engagement as “very open and frank negotiations” and said government was committed to addressing the issues raised by the teachers.
The Minister announced that the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) will meet the teacher unions on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, to continue negotiations on a new collective agreement and conditions of service.
The negotiations are expected to address outstanding concerns over teachers’ employment conditions, which form part of the grievances behind the industrial action.
On the proposed 20% deprived-area allowance, Mr Iddrisu said a validation committee chaired by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations had been established to verify the relevant data.
He said implementation of the allowance is expected to begin in January 2027, following completion of the validation process.
The Minister also announced steps to resolve outstanding promotion-related payments affecting teachers.
He said the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) had been directed to submit validated data on all affected promoted teachers to the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department by 4 p.m. on Monday, October 5, 2026, for processing.
According to him, government currently has information covering about 29,000 teachers, but the validation exercise is expected to cover nearly 80,000 teachers.
Teachers whose cases are successfully processed are expected to receive salaries reflecting their new grades by the end of October.
Mr Iddrisu appealed to the unions to consider the impact of the strike on students and the academic calendar and return to the classroom as government continues negotiations to resolve the outstanding issues.
Story by Afornorfe Lucy
