The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) is set to meet with leaders of Ghana's three striking teacher unions - the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and the Progressive Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG) - on Tuesday, October 6. The meeting aims to address the unions' grievances over conditions of service, which have led to weeks of empty classrooms across the country.
Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has appealed to teachers to consider calling off the industrial action and restoring normalcy in schools. Speaking at the 2026 Ghana Teacher Prize ceremony on October 5, Iddrisu warned that the strike could disrupt the future that teachers are fighting for. He emphasized that the government, led by President John Dramani Mahama and supported by Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, remains committed to resolving the issues raised by the unions.
The nationwide strike has centered on demands for payment of outstanding arrears, particularly promotion arrears, alongside broader concerns about teachers' conditions of service. Deputy Education Minister Clement Apaak has explained that nearly 80,000 teachers awaiting promotion are caught up in a data-transfer problem between the Ghana Education Service and the Controller and Accountant-General's Department.
Parent-Teacher Associations have publicly broken with GNAT, NAGRAT, and PRETAG, telling the unions to return their members to class. Parents intend to monitor the government's self-imposed deadline of October 30 for resolving the dispute, rather than see children's schooling disrupted indefinitely.
A study by the Coalition of Concerned Teachers and other education advocacy groups found that some teachers spend as much as 70 percent of their salaries on transport and rent. The coalition argued that this financial squeeze is fueling frustration among teachers, suggesting that even a technical fix to the promotions backlog may not fully address what is driving members to stay off the job.
The FWSC's meeting with union leadership is the next concrete step in the dispute, and its outcome is expected to shape whether schools return to normal teaching and learning in the coming days. The government has given no date beyond October 6 for further talks, and officials have not specified what proposals the commission will bring to the table.
Minister Iddrisu also announced that the 20 percent deprived-area allowance owed to eligible teachers would be paid once validation of beneficiaries is completed. The minister confirmed that the Finance Minister had given the FWSC full mandate to engage the unions on Tuesday in search of an amicable way forward.
Key points
- The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission meets with striking teacher unions on October 6 to discuss grievances over conditions of service.
- Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu warns that the strike could disrupt the future that teachers are fighting for.
- The government's October 30 deadline for resolving the dispute remains the broader horizon against which progress will be measured.
