Newly posted teachers on Tuesday thronged the Jubilee House in Accra to demand the payment of salary arrears owed them for the past seven months. T
Newly posted teachers on Tuesday thronged the Jubilee House in Accra to demand the payment of salary arrears owed them for the past seven months.
The protest, spearheaded by the Coalition of Unpaid Newly Posted Teachers, drew graduates from Colleges of Education and universities across the country who say the government has abandoned them despite their dedicated service in classrooms.
The group, numbering over 6,000, claims they have been working without pay since they were officially engaged by the Ghana Education Service (GES).
According to the teachers, the government’s failure to issue them staff identification numbers and salary clearance from the Ministry of Finance has left them stranded, unable to meet basic needs or support their families.
Emmanuel Ofori, Secretary of the Coalition, addressing journalists during the demonstration, explained that the delay has pushed many of them into financial hardship.
“We, the over 6,000 members of the Coalition, are yet to receive our staff IDs from GES and clearance from the Ministry of Finance since we were employed seven months ago. We are appealing to President Mahama to intervene directly because our situation is unbearable,” he said.
The teachers, some of whom included visually impaired, recounted harrowing experiences of going to class daily without any income to sustain themselves.
Many lamented having to rely on family members who had already sacrificed to sponsor their education, creating further strain on households already grappling with economic challenges.
The protest adds to the growing concerns about the government’s management of the education sector.
In June this year, a smaller group of the same Coalition staged a demonstration at the GES headquarters, but their demands yielded no significant action.
The situation persists despite earlier promises by the Ministry of Finance to clear arrears and issue financial clearance for newly recruited teachers.
This is not the first time newly posted teachers have faced delayed salaries. In past years, similar protests have erupted due to bureaucratic bottlenecks between the GES and the Finance Ministry.
The current protest comes at a politically sensitive time as President John Dramani Mahama faces mounting pressure from labour unions over delayed salaries, unpaid allowances, and concerns about the overall state of the economy.
The teachers are now directly appealing to the President to instruct Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson to expedite the issuance of clearance and ensure their salaries are paid without further delay.
For many of the aggrieved teachers, the demonstration at the Jubilee House was a last resort. With placards and chants demanding justice, they warned of continuous protests if their grievances are not addressed promptly.
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