Ghana Teacher Unions Officially Suspend Strike; Classrooms Reopen Today, October 12 as Government Agrees to Pay 64,000 Teachers And Promotion Arrears.

The teachers union groups of of Ghana have decided to suspend their total nationwide industrial strike after emergency talks with the Council of State and Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) concluded. The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and Pre-Tertiary Teachers’ Association of Ghana (PRETAG) jointly announced the decision over the weekend to halt their two-week-long strike. Their press release stated that their move followed exhaustive multi-lateral talks organized to protect the academic year and restore public basic schools to normal.

As per the press release, the union leaders sent out directive to their members to return to classrooms on Monday, October 12, 2026, after a night-long consensus. The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) General Secretary Thomas Musah told reporters shortly after the closing session with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) that the suspension was a goodwill gesture which will help the state to honor its freshly signed undertakings. “We want to announce that we have suspended the strike today. We want to call all our members to return to the classrooms as we continue with the negotiations regarding the outstanding issues,” he said.

The pre-tertiary teachers had gone on a nationwide strike on September 25, 2026, over such long-standing differences as delays in the payment of promotion-related salary arrears, unfulfilled conditions of service in their collective bargain agreements, and unpaid allowances due to teachers in deprived areas. The combined union leaders had expressed frustration over the prolonged delays by state banks in clearing payments that had been cleared.

After the Council of State stepped in on October 9, an emergency arbitration session was held between the union executives and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations. The Sector Minister Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum stated that technical meetings held separately between the labor and the state had helped to clear administrative hurdles in the Ghana Education Service (GES) and Controller and Accountant General’s Department.

“There has been a lot of activity by the workers’ unions, and I want to assure them that the processes for the clearances of the 64,000 teachers’ salaries have been expedited. They have already been keyed into the system by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department and are ready to clear,” he said. The framework agreement for the staged payment of sums owed to teachers commencing mid-October 2026 was signed by FWSC Chief Executive Officer George Smith-Graham. The government has agreed to a detailed schedule for the payments for the promotion arrears and upgraded allowances, but the union representatives including PRETAG President King Ali Awudu reminded the state that the suspension is conditional.

The parties will reconvene in the next few weeks to finalize the details of a final agreement, and the state warned that the future fortunes of the public education system will depend on the implementation of the agreements.