The unions say thousands of teachers who successfully completed the recent promotional process must be automatically promoted and placed on the corresponding salary scales without further delay.
The warning was issued at a media briefing in Accra on Thursday, August 27, amid growing concerns over what the unions describe as conflicting directives surrounding the implementation of the automatic promotion system.
General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Thomas Musah, said the unions expected the Ghana Education Service (GES) to honour its earlier commitment to implement the system by August.
He said teachers who had qualified for promotion based on the results already released must be placed on their appropriate grades and salary scales by close of work on Monday, August 31.
“We the teacher unions, we have no option than to make it clear that the automatic promotion of teachers or placement of teachers on the required grade as to where they should be on the promotion as of the results that came out, they should be put on their respective scales by close of work on Monday, 31st August, 2026, as promised by the Ghana Education Service,” he said.
Mr Musah warned that the unions could not guarantee that teachers would remain at work if the deadline was missed.
“Failure to do so, whatever happens thereafter, His Excellency should hold the agency heads there responsible. We, the teacher unions, we cannot restrain any teacher from that particular day,” he said.
Unions challenge promotion process
The unions’ concerns have also extended to the transparency of the recent promotional examinations.
President of the Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG), Jacob Anaba, accused the GES of failing to provide teachers with detailed statistics on the examination results.
He said teachers had previously been given information showing the number and percentage of candidates who passed and failed, as well as the distribution of successful candidates across the various promotional ranks.
“Over the years, when teachers write promotional exams and the results are released, we are given statistics of those that passed and those that failed; the number and the percentage,” he said.
According to Mr Anaba, teachers were also traditionally provided with a breakdown of successful candidates promoted to ranks including Deputy Director, Assistant Director I, Assistant Director II and Principal Superintendent.
“This time, all that has not been done,” he added.
The unions are consequently demanding the immediate implementation of the automatic promotion system, together with the placement of successful teachers on their appropriate salary scales.
They have maintained that resolving the matter before the August 31 deadline is critical to preventing a disruption in teaching and learning as the government and education authorities prepare for the next phase of the academic year.
