Recruit 30,000 teachers to basic schools next year – EduWatch to Govt

Education think-tank – Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) has urged the government to recruit at least 30,000 teachers to teach in public basic schools across the country in the 2026 academic year.

Speaking at the 2026 budget workshop for Members of Parliament (MPs), the Executive Director of EduWatch said the 2026 teacher recruitment must focus on deploying teachers to the foundational levels in underserved communities.

“Earlier today, I spent three (3) hours of my Sunday convincing our MPs that education cannot work in 2026 without recruiting at least 30,000 teachers for basic schools. The focus must be on deploying them to the foundational levels in underserved communities,” the EduWatch Director said in a post on Sunday.

He also urged the Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, to direct the Ghana Education Service to fully decentralise teacher posting with quotas that match declared and verified vacancies.

“I urged the Minister for Education, who was nodding his head throughout, to ask GES to fully decentralise teacher posting with quotas that match declared and verified vacancies,” Mr Asare stated.

Meanwhile, the Minister in Charge of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, says plans are underway for the central government to recruit 50,000 teachers and 10,000 non-teaching staff this academic year

The Minister of Education, addressing the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, said adequate provisions have been made in the 2025 national budget for the mass recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff.

“Mr. Speaker, as I have assured this House, 50,000 teachers will be recruited, along with 10,000 non-teaching staff. Adequate provision was made for this in the 2025 budget,” Mr Haruna Iddrisu told Parliament on Wednesday.

The Education Minister said the impending recruitment of the 50,000 teachers and 10,000 non-teaching staff in the country forms part of President John Mahama’s administration’s efforts to strengthen the education sector.

Mr Haruna Iddrisu said the process would begin once the Finance Minister had given the clearance and the Auditor-General had completed a validation process to get rid of ghost names on teachers’ payroll.