Teachers whose promotions have been delayed could begin receiving their salary adjustments and arrears by October 15, as the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department works to clear the records of 52,000 affected staff.

The payment process is now at the verification stage, following the submission of promotion input forms and letters by the Ghana Education Service (GES). Officials are checking the documents to establish which teachers’ records meet the requirements for validation and payment.

Controller and Accountant-General Kwasi Agyei said the department had received all the required forms for the 52,000 teachers as of 2 p.m. on Thursday, October 8.

He indicated that records not cleared during the current payroll exercise would be handled through a supplementary payroll and reflected in the affected teachers’ salaries later.

“We are verifying them, and whatever is verified and validated, as the Deputy Minister said, the intention is to pay on the 15th or before the 16th of October,” Mr Agyei told Citi FM on Thursday, October 8. He said the validation exercise was expected to be completed by next week.

The exercise follows a September 28 directive from Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu requiring the GES Director-General to submit details of all promoted teachers to the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department to facilitate the payment of outstanding salaries and arrears.

The delayed payments have been among the grievances raised by the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and the Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG).

The unions have embarked on industrial action over promotion delays, conditions of service and deprived-area allowances, among other outstanding concerns.