The immediate past Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr Eric Nkansah, has categorically denied claims by the Minister for Education, Hon Haruna Iddrisu, that 39,000 appointment letters were issued in 2024 without the necessary financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance.

In a detailed statement issued on Saturday, Dr Nkansah described the assertion as “factually inaccurate” and urged the public to disregard it. He maintained that every teacher recruited in 2024 was backed by valid and duly documented financial clearance.

Breakdown of Financial Clearance

Providing clarity on the matter, Dr Nkansah stated that the Ministry of Finance granted GES financial clearance on three separate occasions during the year:

On 10th May 2024, clearance was given to recruit 16,500 graduate teachers from the Colleges of Education.

On 26th July 2024, an additional 2,000 slots were approved.

On 10th October 2024, a portion of the graduate teacher clearance was amended, allowing 2,000 of the slots to be allocated to diploma teachers instead.

These approvals brought the total number of authorised recruitments to 18,500.

Utilisation of Approved Slots

Dr Nkansah outlined a meticulous utilisation process for the approved figures:

Of the 16,500 graduate teacher clearance:

12,784 were recruited from Colleges of Education

2,629 were limited university graduates

920 were used to address a spillover from the previous year, as reconciled by the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department in consultation with GES

Total utilised: 16,333

Balance: 167

For the 2,000 diploma teacher slots:

1,387 were recruited

Balance: 613

This brings the total number of recruits in 2024 to 17,720, leaving 780 of the approved slots unused.

Call for Accuracy

In wrapping up his rejoinder, Dr Nkansah stated emphatically that “every teacher recruited in 2024 was backed by valid and documented clearance from the Ministry of Finance.”

He warned that inaccurate public commentary on such sensitive issues has the potential to mislead and erode trust in key institutions.

“The claim that 39,000 appointment letters were issued without financial clearance is both misleading and unsupported by the facts,” Dr Nkansah concluded.

Dr Nkansah attached the documents below to his statement.