Government to Hire 60,000 Teachers and Support Staff — Education Minister Announces

The government is set to embark on a large-scale recruitment drive in the education sector, aiming to engage 50,000 teachers and 10,000 non-teaching staff before the end of 2025. This was disclosed by the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, during a session in Parliament on Wednesday, June 25.

According to the minister, the recruitment process is awaiting financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance, which is expected to be granted once the Auditor-General completes validation of certain employment documentation.

“We intend to recruit as many as 50,000 teachers and 10,000 non-teaching staff, as provided for in the 2025 Budget Statement,” Mr. Iddrisu told the House. “The Finance Minister has assured that once validation is complete, financial clearance will be issued to allow various ministries, including the Ministry of Education, to proceed with hiring.”

The recruitment will commence after the mid-year review of the 2025 budget, he added.

The announcement came in response to an urgent question posed by Samuel Atta-Mills, Member of Parliament for Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abrem, who raised concerns over the delay in the payment of salaries to some newly recruited teachers due to the absence of staff ID numbers.

Minister Iddrisu acknowledged the situation, describing it as a “burning concern” at the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education. He confirmed that several newly recruited teachers have not yet received salaries because they have not been assigned staff identification numbers—a prerequisite for placement on the government payroll.

He explained that although the Ministry of Finance issued clearance in 2024 for the recruitment of teachers, the GES was unable to complete the payroll integration process for all recruits before the clearance expired at the end of that year.

“A number of issues, such as inconsistencies in SSNIT numbers and discrepancies in dates of birth between national IDs and SSNIT records, delayed the process,” the minister said. “These inconsistencies matter because they impact retirement planning and service timelines.”

He also clarified that as of now, 2,643 newly hired teaching and non-teaching staff have yet to receive staff ID numbers. In addition, 2,650 graduate teachers and 298 diploma teachers were recruited but failed to complete salary input procedures before the end of 2024.

Furthermore, 2,113 graduate recruits were assigned staff IDs but were unable to finalize their payroll documentation in time.

On the issue of ghost names on the payroll, the Education Minister disclosed that the GES has already completed a full data validation exercise and is now waiting for final approval from the Finance Ministry to integrate the verified personnel onto the official payroll.

Addressing recent protests by some of the unpaid teachers at the GES headquarters, Mr. Iddrisu stated that the picketing was peaceful and that no one was manhandled during the demonstration. He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to resolving the payment delays and acknowledged the unfortunate circumstances in which some dedicated individuals have been left without compensation for months.

“As a government, we deeply regret the delay in processing salaries for some of our newly recruited teachers, who play a vital role in shaping the next generation. Efforts are underway to rectify these challenges quickly,” he assured.

The government’s plan to hire 60,000 new personnel reflects a broader agenda to improve teacher-to-student ratios, enhance service delivery in schools, and strengthen administrative support across the education sector.