A coalition of teacher unions has issued a warning to embark on industrial action if government does not put newly promoted teachers on their correct salary scales by the close of work on Monday, August 31, 2026.
The unions said the warning comes after a directive from the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department which they say runs contrary to an earlier promise by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to roll out the automatic promotion system by August.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Thursday, August 27, General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Thomas Musah, described the directive as illegal and demanded that government ensures the affected teachers are placed on their new salary scales by the 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 (GES),” he said.
Mr Musah cautioned that failure to meet the deadline could result in a strike, stating that the unions would not be able to stop teachers from reacting.
“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 not providing teachers with detailed statistics on the results of the recent promotion examinations.
He noted that teachers have over the years been provided with a breakdown of the number and percentage of those 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 unions are therefore calling for the immediate implementation of the automatic promotion system and the placement of successful teachers on their appropriate salary scales.
