A Tamale-based teacher group, the Coalition of Unpaid Teachers in the Northern Region, has issued a 14-day ultimatum to government to pay its members two years of unpaid salaries or risk their withdrawal from classrooms.

The group says the government has neglected them for over two years, leaving them as “ghosts” within Ghana’s education system.

“We, the Coalition of Unpaid Teachers, demand recognition within 14 working days, the immediate release of all outstanding Staff IDs, and full payment of every pesewa owed since 2023, without delay or batching,” the group said.

More than 250 trained teachers voiced their frustration at a press conference in Tamale, describing what they termed sustained ill-treatment by the state.

They said they have remained in classrooms teaching the nation’s future for two years without pay, a situation they claim has devastated their lives.

“Today, the 2023 cohort of teachers breaks its silence because our patience has finally run out. What was once a professional calling has been turned by the government into a nightmare,” the group stated.

They warned that failure to meet their demands would force them to abandon their posts.

“If these demands are ignored, the nightmare we live in will follow us out of the classrooms. We will no longer serve a system that feeds off our unpaid labour. The time for talking has ended,” they said.

The teachers also accused the government of deliberately delaying their engagement through what they described as piecemeal releases of Staff IDs.

“For nearly two years, Staff IDs were released in a slow trickle to keep us quiet. It gave false hope that payment was ‘next month,’ while more than 250 teachers were pushed into financial ruin,” they claimed.

They further alleged that they were summoned to regional offices under the guise of welfare support, only to be turned away after spending borrowed funds to attend.

“We were asked to submit documents at regional centres for our welfare. We spent our last borrowed money only to be told the exercise was ‘not for us.’ It was a soul-crushing mockery of our service,” they lamented.

The Coalition appealed directly to the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, urging him, as a teacher by profession, to intervene urgently to improve their living conditions and those of their dependents.