Teacher Unions threaten strike over delayed promotion, salary placement

A coalition of teacher unions has threatened industrial action if the government fails to place newly promoted teachers on their appropriate salary scales by close of work on Monday, August 31, 2026.

The unions say the threat follows a directive from the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department which, they contend, contradicts an earlier assurance by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to implement the automatic promotion system by August.

Speaking at a media briefing in Accra on Thursday, August 27, General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Thomas Musah, described the directive as unlawful and urged the government to ensure that all affected teachers are placed on their new salary scales by the stated deadline.

“We the teacher unions, we have no option than to make it clear that the automatic promotion of teachers or placement of teachers on the required grade as to where they should be on the promotion as of the results that came out, they should be put on their respective scales by close of work on Monday, 31st August, 2026, as promised by the Ghana Education Service,” he said.

Mr Musah warned that failure to meet the deadline could trigger industrial action, stressing that the unions would not be able to prevent teachers from taking action.

“Failure to do so, whatever happens thereafter, His Excellency should hold the agency heads there responsible. We, the teacher unions, we cannot restrain any teacher from that particular day,” he said.

Meanwhile, President of the Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG), Jacob Anaba, accused the GES of failing to provide teachers with detailed statistics on the outcome of the recent promotional examinations.

According to him, teachers have traditionally been provided with a breakdown of the number and percentage of candidates who passed and failed, as well as the number promoted to the various ranks.

“Over the years, when teachers write promotional exams and the results are released, we are given statistics of those that passed and those that failed; the number and the percentage. We are also given another breakdown of the number of people that passed to Deputy Director, Assistant Director I, Assistant Director II, Principal Superintendent. This time, all that has not been done,” he said.

The teacher unions are therefore demanding the immediate implementation of the automatic promotion system and the placement of successful teachers on their appropriate salary scales.

They have warned that failure to meet the August 31 deadline could leave them with no option but to resort to industrial action.