Gov’t Tables New Proposals As Education Minister Urges Teacher Unions To Call Off Strike

Government has tabled new proposals to the teacher unions as it steps up efforts to end the ongoing strike by teachers across the country.

Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu, who disclosed this after a meeting with the unions, said government had made commitments on three key concerns raised by the unions payment of promotion arrears, implementation of the 20% deprived-area allowance and negotiations on their expired conditions of service.

On promotion arrears, the Minister said government would honour the new grades of all promoted teachers by October 30, with payments covering arrears from January 2026.

He said the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department had already validated data covering up to 51,000 teachers, with a supplementary payment schedule to be prepared for that category, while other eligible teachers would receive their arrears as part of their October salaries.

On the 20% deprived-area allowance, Mr. Iddrisu said government remained committed to the policy but needed to establish a clear framework to determine which areas and categories of teachers qualified for the allowance.

He said a committee involving representatives of the teacher unions and the Ghana Statistical Service had been tasked with validating the data and developing a roadmap for implementation.

The Minister also disclosed that the teacher unions had been invited to return to the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission on Tuesday to resume negotiations on their expired conditions of service.

He expressed the expectation that the negotiations would not take more than a week.

Mr. Iddrisu appealed to the teacher unions to consider calling off the strike in view of the proposals presented by government.

“Our first and primary concern is the restoration of normal academic work,” he said, adding that government was hopeful that normal teaching and learning would resume next week.

The teacher unions, however, said the strike remained in force pending consultations with their members on Monday, October 5, when they are expected to consider government’s latest proposals and decide on the way forward.

The Education Minister said government’s broader objective was not only to restore teaching and learning but also to protect the stability of the September academic calendar.