Haruna Iddrisu
The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has announced that the government plans to recruit 50,000 teachers and 90,000 non-teaching staff as soon as the Ministry of Finance issues the necessary financial clearance.
This commitment, he said, is in line with provisions made in the 2025 Budget Statement.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday in response to questions from Members of Parliament, the Minister emphasised that the planned recruitment would be rolled out in two phases – teachers first, followed by non-teaching personnel immediately after the mid-year budget review.
“This matter is pending at the moment at the Ghana Education Service headquarters and the Ministry,” Mr. Iddrisu said.
He confirmed that a group of newly recruited teachers had recently picketed at the GES headquarters in protest over delayed salaries and staff IDs. “I want to assure this House that no one was manhandled,” he added.
According to the Minister, the delay in placing newly recruited staff on the government payroll was due to the expiration of 2024 financial clearance before the Ghana Education Service (GES) could finalise recruitment processes.
He blamed the delays on inconsistencies in applicants’ documentation, particularly concerning Ghana Card numbers, national ID, dates of birth, and mismatches in assigned station placements.
“In some cases, the dates of birth on the Ghana Card did not match their SSNIT details,” he noted, adding that such discrepancies are critical since retirement age calculations depend on these records.
He disclosed that 1,643 newly recruited teaching and non-teaching staff are currently without staff IDs, making them ineligible for salary processing.
Mr. Iddrisu said the breakdown of this number includes 582 teachers recruited from the Colleges of Education in 2024 as well as 2,650 teachers from universities, 298 diploma holders, 2,113 graduates who have received staff IDs but couldn’t complete the salary input process before year-end.
Mr. Iddrisu stressed that these cases were subject to data validation, a necessary step to combat the widespread issue of ghost names on the public payroll.
“The GES has now completed this data validation process and is awaiting financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance. Once that is received, these teachers will be placed on the payroll and their salaries paid,” he assured the House.
He acknowledged the frustrations of affected recruits but appealed for patience, underscoring government’s commitment to upholding transparency and efficiency in public sector employment.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House