Government has secured financial clearance to recruit at least 7,000 teachers nationwide, with priority for those willing to serve in deprived communities, Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has announced.

Speaking at a press briefing, Mr Iddrisu said the move forms part of efforts to expand access to quality education while addressing growing graduate unemployment among trained teachers.

According to him, the recruitment exercise will be “open, competitive and transparent,” targeting graduates from the 2023, 2024 and 2025 cohorts of Colleges of Education. The Ghana Education Service (GES) is expected to open its application portal on April 10, with the process scheduled to conclude by July 1.

“Priority will be given to those who are ready and willing to serve in those deprived and underserved areas like Sangule in the Northern Region or Dambai in the Oti Region and other areas that we have noted, there are significant gaps and deficits in the availability of teachers,” the minister stated.

The announcement comes at a time when many newly trained teachers remain unemployed, despite persistent staffing gaps in rural and hard-to-reach areas. Education stakeholders have long raised concerns about the uneven distribution of teachers, with urban schools often better staffed than their rural counterparts.

Mr Iddrisu noted that the policy seeks to bridge this gap while ensuring that qualified graduates are absorbed into the public education system.

In addition to the basic school recruitment, the minister disclosed that government has also approved the hiring of about 1,200 faculty members across public tertiary institutions. The move is aimed at strengthening academic delivery and addressing staffing shortfalls in universities and colleges.

He explained that the recruitment will help “beef up” faculty strength while introducing a system of automatic replacement for retiring or exiting staff.

“As we continue to work, my view is that it should be possible to have what we call automaticity — automatic replacement,” he said, adding that provisions have already been made to cater for compensation and related costs.