Ghana’s Teacher Unions have issued a warning of potential industrial action should newly promoted teachers fail to be assigned to their correct salary scales by Monday, August 31, 2026.
The warning was issued at a media briefing in Accra on Thursday, August 27, amid growing frustration over delays in implementing promotions for teachers who have completed the required processes.
The unions asserted that the core of the dispute lies in the execution of the automatic promotion system and the inability to transition the impacted teachers to the salary grades corresponding to their new positions.
GNAT General Secretary Thomas Musah said the unions expect the government and relevant agencies to honour an earlier commitment by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to complete the placement process by the end of August.
He cautioned that not adhering to the deadline might result in industrial action, indicating that the unions would be unable to convince the impacted teachers from proceeding with their actions.
The unions have expressed concerns regarding a directive issued by the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department, which they argue contradicts the previous assurance provided by the GES.
In the meantime, Jacob Anaba, President of the Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG), expressed criticism toward the GES for not supplying teachers with comprehensive statistics regarding the recent promotional examinations.
He stated that the professionally trained teachers had earlier been provided with data indicating the number and percentage of candidates who succeeded and failed, along with the count of those promoted to various ranks. The unions assert that the necessary information has not been supplied on this occasion.
The latest dispute follows earlier concerns raised by teacher groups over promotion placements and career progression. GNAT had previously given authorities until September 7 to address several outstanding issues, including promotion placements and the renewal of teachers’ collective agreement.
