Ghana teacher unions strike: Will teachers September salaries be delayed? What teachers need to know

Ghana’s three major pre-tertiary teacher unions have declared an immediate nationwide strike after the government missed a September 24 deadline to resolve outstanding concerns over teacher promotions, salary arrears, conditions of service and the Deprived Area Allowance.

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG) announced the industrial action on Friday, September 25, 2026, directing their members to withdraw their services until further notice.

The action directly affects Ghana’s public pre-tertiary education system, covering teachers working in the sector administered by the Ghana Education Service (GES). The GES is responsible for the implementation of national education policies and the day-to-day administration of pre-tertiary education in Ghana.

But as the strike begins, another concern is gaining attention among teachers: whether the industrial action could affect the processing or payment of September 2026 salaries.

Are September teacher salaries going to be delayed?

There are concerns and discussions among teachers about the possible effect of the strike on September salary processing. However, there is currently no official confirmation that the September 2026 salaries of teachers will be delayed because of the strike.

In fact, the position reported from the unions on Friday indicates that September salaries were already being processed when the strike was declared. PRETAG President King Ali Awudu said the agreement to automatically place promoted teachers on the appropriate salary scale had not been implemented, despite September salaries already being processed.

This distinction is important.

The unions are protesting, among other things, the failure to place promoted teachers on their appropriate salary scales and pay the related arrears. That is different from an official announcement that the normal September salary payment for teachers will be stopped or delayed because teachers have gone on strike.

The Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD), which manages government payroll processing and salary disbursement, says its Payroll Management Division runs a monthly payroll cycle and is responsible for processing and disbursing salaries for active government employees. It also publishes salary and pension payment dates. (CAGD Ghana)

As of September 25, there is no CAGD announcement located confirming that the teacher strike has caused a delay in September salary payment.

Teachers should therefore distinguish between social-media claims about a possible salary delay and a confirmed payroll directive.

What has triggered the teacher strike?

The unions’ immediate concerns centre on three broad issues.

The first is the renewal of the Collective Agreement governing teachers’ conditions of service. The unions say the existing agreement has expired and that negotiations for a new agreement remain unresolved. They say the matter has been raised with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) several times without a resolution.

The second concerns the placement of teachers who passed promotion examinations.

The unions are demanding the automatic placement of teachers who successfully completed promotion examinations in December 2025 and February 2026 onto their appropriate salary scales, together with payment of arrears effective from January 2026.

The third major issue is the Deprived Area Allowance.

The unions say the process for implementing the allowance has not been completed. They have also raised concerns about incentives for teachers working in deprived and hard-to-reach areas.

At Friday’s press briefing, PRETAG also raised concerns about the proposed increase in the digital allowance and said the promotion placement arrangement had not been implemented.

Why the promotion issue matters to teachers

The promotion dispute is particularly significant because it concerns teachers who have already gone through the required promotion examination process but say their new positions have not been fully reflected on the payroll.

Earlier in September, the unions had warned government that they could no longer restrain their members if the outstanding matters were not resolved by September 24.

That deadline passed on Thursday.

The unions subsequently declared the nationwide strike effective Friday, September 25.

The current action therefore follows a sequence of negotiations, assurances and deadlines rather than being announced without prior warning.

Government says it is making progress and asks teachers to call off strike

The Ministry of Education has responded to the strike by asking the unions to reconsider their decision.

The Ministry’s spokesperson, Hashmin Mohammed, told Citi News that government had made significant progress in addressing the concerns raised by the unions. He said the Education Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, had been engaging the relevant stakeholders and that the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and CAGD were expected to engage the unions to find a resolution.

The Ministry has also raised concerns about the effect of the strike on the academic calendar.

According to the Ministry, considerable effort had gone into restoring the academic calendar so that learners from kindergarten through university could report to school in September. The Ministry therefore warned that the strike could undermine those efforts.

What the strike means for public pre-tertiary education

The immediate implication is a withdrawal of teaching services by members of the affected unions.

Because the unions have directed teachers to stay away from their duties, public schools that depend on their members for classroom teaching may experience disruption to normal academic activities.

The potential effect is particularly important for public basic and second-cycle education, where the Ghana Education Service has responsibility for the administration of pre-tertiary education.

For pupils and students, a prolonged withdrawal of teaching services could mean interruptions to classroom instruction and other school activities. The Ministry itself has said the action could affect efforts to restore the academic calendar.

However, the duration and eventual academic effect of the strike remain unresolved because the unions have said the action will continue until their concerns are addressed.

The salary issue: what is confirmed and what is not

The salary discussion requires particular care because several different payment issues are being discussed at the same time.

There are outstanding promotion salaries and arrears that the unions say have not been fully implemented. The unions specifically want affected promoted teachers placed on their new salary scales and their arrears paid.

That should not be confused with the ordinary September salary payment for all teachers.

Current reporting shows that September salaries were already being processed when the unions announced the strike.

CAGD’s official information confirms that it is the government institution responsible for processing and executing government payments, including salaries, through established financial systems. Its Payroll Management Division handles monthly salary processing and disbursement.

As of Friday, September 25, no official CAGD statement confirming that the strike will delay the September salary payment has been found.

That means reports or posts claiming that teachers’ September salaries will automatically be delayed because of the strike should, at this stage, be treated as unconfirmed unless supported by an official payroll announcement.

What has been seen on teachers’ online platforms?

There is evidence of the salary and promotion dispute being actively circulated among teacher-focused online platforms.

For example, the Ghana Teachers’ Updates Telegram channel has published the September 22 urgent notice from GNAT, NAGRAT and PRETAG concerning promotion placement, arrears, the Collective Agreement and the Deprived Area Allowance. The channel also carries subsequent teacher communications concerning the strike.

The online discussions show that teachers are closely following the salary-placement issue. However, social-media posts themselves do not establish that the ordinary September salary payment has been delayed.

The more firmly established fact is that the unions themselves said on September 25 that September salaries were already being processed while the promotion-placement issue remained unresolved.

What happens next?

The dispute is not yet settled.

The Ministry of Education says further engagement is expected between the teacher unions, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and CAGD. Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu is scheduled to meet the unions, FWSC and CAGD on Monday, September 28, as efforts continue to resolve the outstanding salary and arrears concerns.

For schools, teachers, parents and students, the key issue to watch is whether those engagements produce an agreement that leads to the suspension of the strike.

For teachers specifically, the immediate distinction is equally important: the promotion-related salary arrears are a confirmed part of the dispute, but a general delay in September 2026 salaries has not been officially confirmed as a consequence of the strike.

Until CAGD or another competent government authority issues a formal update on September salary payments, teachers should rely on official payroll information rather than unverified social-media claims.

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