The Ghana Education Service (GES) says it will submit promotion letters and other required documents for about 60,000 teaching staff as efforts intensify to resolve the ongoing teacher payment crisis.

Head of Public Relations at GES, Daniel Fenyi, said the Service has been given until next Monday to provide the documents to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department.

He explained that the deadline covers the input forms, promotion letters and other necessary documentation required by the Controller.

“The 4 p.m. deadline is for next week Monday. Next week Monday,” Mr Fenyi clarified on Joy News’ PM Express on Monday.

He said GES is working closely with the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to meet the requirement and ensure teachers receive their outstanding payments.

“The Education Minister met them today and gave them all the assurances. The minister has also mentioned that in case of the insistence of some input forms and documentation, GES should be able to provide.”

Mr Fenyi said although more than 80,000 staff have been referenced in discussions on the issue, the figure includes both teaching and non-teaching staff.

“For the teaching staff, we have about 59 to 60,000 of them,” he said.

According to him, the Controller has maintained that the input forms are crucial to its work and must be provided alongside the other documentation.

GES, however, believes that given the circumstances, teachers could have been processed through automatic placement, particularly following the outcome of the August 31 meeting and agreement.

Mr Fenyi urged stakeholders to focus on resolving the crisis rather than assigning blame.

“I would very much hesitate to start blame games,” he said, stressing that “Teachers need their money.”

He said staff at the GES headquarters were still working on the documents and expressed confidence that the Service would meet the Monday deadline.

“You should hear some good news by close of day tomorrow,” he said.

“We have worked under pressure. We have attempted, within our human effort, to make sure the welfare of our teachers is prioritised in all our engagement.”

Mr Fenyi also said GES was determined to resolve the issue quickly so teachers could return to the classroom.

“Once the welfare of our teachers is involved, trust us that we will work around the clock to make sure that their desires are really met, so that they can return to the classroom.”

He added that GES would not want the crisis to disrupt the academic calendar, which he said had been stabilised.