Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu finally meets graduate teachers over posting, salary delays
On Wednesday, May 7, some university graduate teachers who were picketing outside the Ministry of Education forecourt were addressed by Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu.
The irate educators have called for regional posting letters for those whose paperwork are stalled at regional offices around the nation and staff IDS for those who are already at the post. They blame the situation on what they say is the unfair cancellation of job advertising and the delayed follow-up following the validation procedure, which has led to about five months of unpaid salaries.
The Minister claims that 39,000 appointment letters were sent out by the previous administration without the necessary funding.
He indicated that out of the 39,000, the government might be able to absorb only 9,000–12,000.
An aggrieved teacher, Myers Assibi Akudbilla, shared what she described as an unpleasant experience after being posted from Tamale in the Upper East Region to the Ashanti Region. She disclosed that she hasn’t been paid after five months of being at post.
“I came here mainly because of my staff ID, or let me say, the recruitment process. I had my appointment dated 8th November. I went to the region for my regional posting letter, but when I got to the school, I was asked to go for my IPPD document to be processed.
“When I got there, the revocation had started, so my IPPD couldn’t be processed. As it stands now, I am at post in the Ashanti Region, but I do not know my fate. As I speak, my documents are stuck at the district level, and that is why I am here. We are here to find out how far our processing document has gotten,” he said.
Deputy Convenor of the aggrieved teachers, Emmanuel Ofori, mentioned that the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, after a closed-door meeting with leaders of the group, indicated that directives have been given to regional offices to fast-track processes to ensure their grievances are resolved.
“We were called for a meeting, and the meeting lasted for about 35 minutes. During the meeting, he mentioned that we, the newly posted teachers who have been able to go through a successful validation, automatically we have been reinstated. But the truth of the matter is that they are facing some challenges, and the challenge is about financial clearance.
“The financial clearance was secured by the past government, but due to some reason, it has expired, so they have written to the Ministry of Finance to seek reactivation so that they can proceed to release our staff ID and also pay us our salaries,” he said.
