{"id":122219,"date":"2026-05-29T14:28:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=122219"},"modified":"2026-05-29T14:28:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:28:16","slug":"176-teachers-in-prestea-huni-valley-paid-by-parents-amid-staffing-shortages-education-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=122219","title":{"rendered":"176 teachers in Prestea Huni-Valley paid by parents amid staffing shortages \u2013 Education Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has disclosed that 176 teachers currently working in classrooms across the Prestea Huni-Valley Constituency are being paid directly by parents due to ongoing staffing shortages in public schools.<\/p>\n

Speaking before Parliament, the Minister said the situation reflects a broader structural challenge within the education sector, with Ghana\u2019s teacher deficit estimated at nearly 50,000.<\/p>\n

To address the gap, Mr. Iddrisu announced that the government has commenced a nationwide recruitment exercise involving 7,000 teachers and 3,000 lecturers to strengthen staffing levels and improve the delivery of education across all levels.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCurrently, we are undertaking some recruitment of about 7,000 teachers across the country,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He explained that the Ghana Education Service (GES) had previously carried out a situational assessment in the Prestea Huni-Valley area to determine the scale of the challenge.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA team from the Ghana Education Service visited the area in 2023 to undertake a situational assessment. The findings confirm 176 number of community teachers operating in the area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mr. Iddrisu stressed that while the situation requires urgent intervention, recruitment processes remain subject to financial clearance.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo we have to act and act well on this matter. Yes, it\u2019s true. I am currently subject to approval and clearance from the Minister of Finance. That is only when I can take the initiative to recruit teachers,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He reiterated that the government is actively working to fill critical staffing gaps in the education sector.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo we are currently recruiting 7,000 teachers across the country. And for the tertiary education level, close to 3,000 lecturers will be able to fill in the gap,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

However, he cautioned that the scale of the national deficit remains significant.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf you do a national assessment of our needs, we need a minimum of 50,000 teachers across the country. But that is subject to budget and the budget being able to absorb that,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mr. Iddrisu further announced that a new batch of recruited teachers will officially begin work across the country on July 1 this year, as part of efforts to strengthen education delivery and reduce the staffing gap.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFirst of July, a new batch of recruited teachers will start work across Ghana, and some 7,000 teachers will be recruited,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He added that the government is still engaging the Ministry of Finance to potentially increase recruitment numbers, although this remains dependent on available fiscal space.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m still engaging with the Minister for finance to increase the numbers for the recruitment of teachers. It must be on budget,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He indicated that the matter could be reconsidered during the mid-year budget review to allow for possible expansion of recruitment.<\/p>\n

Mr. Iddrisu also highlighted concerns about inclusivity in recruitment, particularly for persons with disabilities.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy attention was drawn during the May Day celebration when one of the workers was dancing with a placard that blind teachers are also teachers to remind me that when you are doing recruitment, take care of blind teachers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He further noted appeals from traditional leaders and language communities for targeted deployment of teachers to support mother-tongue instruction.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve had requests from His Royal Majesty, Ga Mantse, that look, even in Greater Accra, they have a challenge with Ga teachers and probably Ewe in other areas across the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to him, similar concerns have been raised in the Savannah Region, where stakeholders are calling for the deployment of teachers fluent in local languages.<\/p>\n

He stressed that mother-tongue instruction plays a critical role in improving learning outcomes, particularly in the early years of education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has disclosed that 176 teachers currently working in classrooms across the Prestea Huni-Valley Constituency are being paid directly by parents due to ongoing staffing shortages in public schools.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2664,2019,1883,117,10,9,18739],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education-minister","category-hp-news-10","category-national","category-news","category-politics","category-popular","category-prestea-huni-valley-teachers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=122219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=122219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=122219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=122219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}