All 3 Demands Of Teacher Unions Met – GES PRO

The Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Daniel Fenyi, says all three demands that led to the recent two-week strike by teachers have been addressed.

In a statement issued on Monday, October 19, Mr Fenyi recalled that teachers returned to the classroom exactly a week ago after the industrial action, which was premised on three demands including placement of promoted teachers on their appropriate salary scales and payment, renegotiation and signing of the collective agreement, and introduction of a deprived-area allowance.

Giving an update on the actions taken, he said supplementary payment vouchers were raised, and payments were made to over 50,000 promoted teachers.

“In fact, the goal was to meet a target of 51,000 payments within a week, but we managed a little over 56,000. The remaining cases, about 20,000, which include lower ranks, have also been fully processed and are awaiting payment,” he stated.

On the collective agreement, Mr Fenyi said the agreement has been negotiated and signed by all parties, noting that the strike was called off at the negotiation venue after the signing was completed.

For the deprived-area allowance, he disclosed that January 2027 has been earmarked as the timeline for completing all necessary documentation and background work, much of which will be undertaken collaboratively with teachers.

He said the Ministry of Education and GES had to suspend almost every other activity to commit their energies to resolving the welfare issues, describing the government’s management of the crisis as commendable.

“The response was timely, the reaction was appropriate, and concrete solutions have been provided,” he said, adding that the Minister for Education’s honour remains intact following the payments.

He also allayed fears that the strike may lead to a reduction in promotions this year, assuring that every applicant who meets the requirements and passes the promotion process will be promoted.

“Although the number of teachers promoted last year was significantly high and quite overwhelming, which may have contributed to the delayed payments, I can assure you that it will have no impact on the number of promotions this year,” he stressed.

“It is better to be promoted and receive your rightful financial benefits a little later than to be deliberately failed by the system simply to keep the number of successful applicants low.”

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