The three teacher unions have reached an agreement with the government on outstanding issues concerning promotion placements of their members on the appropriate salary scales in the Ghana Education Service (GES).
This followed a crunch meeting between the unions – Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG), and the government held at the Ministry of Education on Monday (August 31, 2026).
The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu and his deputy, Dr Clement Abas Apaak, were on the government side at the meeting.
The unions were represented by the General Secretary of GNAT, Thomas Musah; the President of NAGRAT, Jacob Anaba and the President of PRETAG, King Awudu Ali.
Following the engagement, the teacher unions have agreed to call off their planned strike action, following assurances and concrete measures agreed upon to resolve the matter.
Among the key resolutions are that teachers will not be required to travel to their respective District Education Offices to submit pay slips for the purpose of salary-scale placement.
It was further agreed that close to 80,000 teachers will be appropriately placed on their correct salary scales as part of the process.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) is expected to provide the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department with the requisite data to facilitate the necessary adjustments and payments to affected teachers.
At the end of the meeting, the Ministry of Education lauded the leadership of the teacher unions for their constructive engagement and commitment to resolving the matter in the interest of the country’s education system and, most importantly, the welfare of teachers.
It said it remained committed to working with all relevant stakeholders to ensure that teachers receive their rightful entitlements in a timely and efficient manner.
After the meeting, Dr Apaak told the media that upon hearing of the intentions of the teacher unions to lay down their tools in reaction to a process that they felt was unjustified and unfair, the minister instructed him to convene a meeting involving NAGRAT, NAGRAT, and CTAG.
“The outcome of the meeting has been positive, and we can announce that the teacher unions have agreed to continue doing their work, and that means that teaching and learning in our pre-tertiary institutions would continue.
“The issues they raised have been sufficiently addressed, and that is that teachers will no longer be required to go to district and regional education offices to provide pay slips and other documentation as a prerequisite for being placed at the right salary scales based on the promotional exams that they wrote and passed,” he said.
Dr Apaak expressed the ministry’s gratitude to the teacher unions and their leadership for indulging us and for agreeing to a compromise that would ensure that teaching and learning continues without any intervention.
“So, once again, we want to appreciate our teachers for their hard work, their sacrifices, and to appreciate the leadership of the teacher unions for responding to the minister’s call for an emergency meeting at a very short notice and for agreeing that because of the importance of teaching and learning, they would also listen to our side of the issue, which has brought us to a resolution that is acceptable to both sides,” he said.
He explained that the issues were mainly two: the issue of teachers providing documentation as a prerequisite to put them on their right salary scales based on the promotions that they have legitimately earned, and “the start date, which has also been addressed”.
“So, the agreement is that all teachers who wrote the promotion exams and passed would have a start date of January 2026,” he emphasised.
