Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has assured teachers that the government is committed to paying outstanding arrears owed to teachers who have been promoted but are yet to receive their appropriate salaries.
Haruna Iddrisu said the government will pursue supplementary funding to begin the payment process once the Ghana Education Service (GES) completes the compilation and verification of the affected teachers’ details.
The Minister made the remarks on Sunday, October 4, when he visited GES officials working to finalise the promotion data.
According to him, the government expects details of at least 51,000 promoted teachers to be ready for submission to the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD).
He explained that once the first batch of data is completed, the government would direct the Finance Ministry to secure supplementary funding to support the initial phase of the payments.
“At least 51,000 would have been ready; then we can get and direct the Minister of Finance to get a supplementary payment for the first leg of it,” he said.
Mr Iddrisu stressed that government must fulfil its obligation to the affected teachers, describing any failure to settle the outstanding arrears as unacceptable.
“It will be inexcusable for government not to honour the payment of the teachers’ promoted arrears,” he stated.
The GES has until 4 p.m. on Monday, October 5, to complete and submit the relevant information to CAGD.
GES Director-General Professor Ernest Kofi Davis said officials were working closely with the Controller’s team to reconcile the data ahead of the deadline.
He said the Service was targeting between 51,000 and 52,000 promoted teachers and was making every effort to complete the exercise on time.
The issue of delayed promotions and unpaid arrears remains a major concern in the ongoing nationwide strike by GNAT, NAGRAT and PRETAG.
The unions have included the payment of outstanding promotion arrears among their key demands for ending the industrial action.
