The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, yesterday (Monday) gave a firm assurance that the government will honour its part of the agreement with the pre-tertiary teacher unions in the country.
"My assurance is that the government will honour our part of the bargain.
Promotion
"We will ensure that by October 16, the promotion arrears and the new salary pay for those who have been accordingly promoted pursuant to the communique that was signed between the various teacher unions would be consummated in honour," Mr Iddrisu said yesterday when he visited the Osu Salem Presbyterian School in Accra to observe the return to school by pre-tertiary teachers who were, as of last Friday, October 9, 2026, on strike.
He was accompanied on the visit by the Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Clement Apaak.
Teachers
The teacher unions -Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Pre-tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG), declared the strike over what they said was the government's failure to pay promotion related arrears, 20 per cent deprived areas allowance and address their expired conditions of service.
However, after a series of meetings with the Minister of Labour, Jobs and Employment, Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum and the Council of State, the unions came to an agreement with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), culminating in the suspension of their sindustrial action.
Communique
The parties subsequently signed a communique to that effect.
It was signed by the Chief Executive Officer of the FWSC, Dr George Smith-Graham; the Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Prof. Ernest Kofi Davies; General Secretary of GNAT, Thomas Musah; the President of NAGRAT, Jacob Anaba; and the President of the PRETAG, King Awudu Ali.
Work
Mr Iddrisu confirmed that the strike had ended and that the teachers had returned to work to support learners in safe and secure learning environments.
He said the government would work towards the validation of the payment on the 20 per cent deprived areas allowance "after we have done some mapping and the validation of the data as to who is eligible, who qualifies, where, in which part of the country can we properly define as deprived".
He said promotion arrears would be paid and then negotiations with the FWSC on the expired conditions of service would be concluded.
The Education Minister expressed his gratitude to the leadership and members of the teachers' unions for reasoning with the government and calling off the strike.
"We've never had a good calendar like this in the last five 10 years.
September school re-opened across the country," he said.
