The Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has revealed that Ghana is facing a serious shortage of teachers. According to him, the country needs between 50,000 and 90,000 more teachers to meet the needs of schools across the country.
However, he explained that financial challenges and budget limitations are making it difficult for the government to hire the number of teachers needed to fill the gap.
Haruna Iddrisu made these comments while speaking in Parliament on Thursday, June 18, during discussions on teacher recruitment and staffing in the education sector.
He said recent reforms in the education sector have increased the demand for teachers, as the government now has to deploy teachers to different educational institutions and agencies.
The minister explained that institutions such as the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) require additional staff, which puts more pressure on the government’s limited resources.
“The country has evolved, and we have taken reforms that will benefit education in the foreseeable future. We now have the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and the GES, and so when we are recruiting, we allocate teachers for TVET and GES, but there is a difference between need and what I have budgetary approval for.
“My need for teachers is between 50,000 and 90,000, but I had clearance for 7,000, and that is what I am making do with.”
His comments help explain why the government recently recruited only 7,000 teachers, a decision that sparked debate among education stakeholders and unemployed graduates.
Many trained teachers were unhappy with the limited recruitment exercise, saying the number of available positions is far too small to address the growing number of unemployed education graduates across the country.
