The Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has disclosed that more than 40,000 applicants submitted entries through the teacher recruitment portal for just 7,000 available vacancies.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of e-Learning Africa, Mr Iddrisu explained that although Ghana faces a teacher deficit, financial clearance was granted for only 7,000 teachers.

He assured that the best-qualified candidates will be selected from the applicant pool.

The recruitment portal has since been closed to prevent the system from being overwhelmed.

“If resources were available, we should be recruiting up to 50,000 teachers across the country, but due to budgetary constraints, we are unable to do that.

The Ministry of Education received clearance from the Ministry of Finance to recruit 7,000 teachers.

In an open, transparent manner, it was advertised. As the portal opened and the number reached 40,000, it was closed. The best 7,000 will be selected after careful assessment. We will do our best,” he said.