Three pre-tertiary teacher unions have suspended a planned nationwide strike after the Ministry of Education agreed to place promoted teachers on their correct salary scales without requiring them to submit payslips or travel to district offices.
The agreement, reached at an emergency meeting on Monday, 31 August 2026, averts immediate industrial action while salary placement remains pending. The threatened strike had put pre-tertiary schools nationwide at risk of disruption. Government now faces an end-of-September deadline to complete placement for close to 80,000 teachers who passed recent promotion examinations.
The unions — the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG) — had given government until the close of work on 31 August to place promoted teachers on their new grades. They said a directive from the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department required additional lists and documentation before promotions could be implemented, contradicting an earlier assurance from the Ghana Education Service (GES) that automatic placement would be completed by August. GNAT General Secretary Thomas Musah described the Controller’s directive as unlawful and warned that union leaders would not restrain members if the deadline was missed. The unions also complained that GES had not published the usual detailed breakdown of who passed or failed the promotional examinations, leaving teachers uncertain about their standing.
Following the 31 August meeting with Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu and Deputy Minister Dr Clement Apaak, the unions suspended their planned industrial action.
The September promise
Under the agreement, promoted teachers who passed their examinations will be placed on the salary scale that matches their new rank automatically. They will not need to submit payslips, fill forms or write application letters, and they will not have to visit district education offices to complete the process. GES is expected to send the necessary data to the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department so salary adjustments and any arrears can be processed. Government has committed to completing placement for between 77,000 and 80,000 teachers by the end of September 2026.
Isaac Nii Baah, GNAT’s Head of Compensation and Benefits, told the Ghana News Agency that placement would be done by the close of September. He said the Minister and the Controller and Accountant-General had also assured the unions that a supplementary process would clear any outstanding placements if the full cohort could not be onboarded at once. Dr Apaak told Citi FM that government would run a supplementary payroll to clear any remaining backlog and that no teacher would be shortchanged.
Promotion arrears will be calculated from January 2026, according to Mr Baah, rather than from July 2026 as an earlier GES communication had indicated. The arrangement covers teachers who sat aptitude tests in December 2025 and February 2026.
A strike across pre-tertiary education would have affected teaching nationwide. The agreement keeps classrooms open while the salary placement work continues. For parents and students, the immediate consequence is continuity. For the promoted teachers themselves, the practical test is whether GES and the Controller’s office meet the September deadline and whether January 2026 backdating produces the pay teachers were expecting.
The Ministry of Education said it appreciated the unions’ engagement and remains committed to ensuring teachers receive their entitlements. Mr Baah said the unions are satisfied with the commitments for now but will wait to see whether they are fulfilled before deciding their next step.