Executive Director of the Institute for Education Studies (IFEST), Dr Peter Anti, has backed the decision by pre-tertiary teacher unions to maintain their nationwide strike, arguing that industrial action is necessary to compel government to address their outstanding concerns.

Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse, Dr Anti said the teachers had raised concerns about their collective agreement and other conditions of service long before embarking on the strike, but government failed to act with the urgency required.

“That is the only way they will get their grievances addressed. Strike is the only language that the government understands,” he said.

Dr Anti said the teacher unions had approached the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) as far back as late 2025 over the renegotiation of their collective agreement, which expired in June 2026.

He argued that the failure to resolve the issues before the strike demonstrated a lack of urgency on the part of the relevant authorities.

Dr Anti also rejected suggestions that the validation of more than 51,000 outstanding teacher promotion claims should be enough for the unions to suspend the strike. “Validating doesn't mean payment.”

According to him, the affected teachers are still awaiting payment, and calling off the strike before the outstanding issues are resolved could result in further delays.

He said previous experiences had shown that when teachers suspended industrial action based on assurances from government, some of the issues were not resolved within the expected timeframe.

“They will have to hold on to what they are doing to ensure that payments are made, agreements are signed, before they will call off the strike.”

Dr Anti therefore urged government to use the ongoing negotiations to settle the outstanding issues if it wants teachers to return to the classroom.

His comments follow renewed negotiations between the teacher unions, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and the Ghana Education Service, which ended on Tuesday, October 6, without an agreement.

The parties are expected to reconvene on Wednesday, October 7, as efforts continue to resolve the issues underpinning the nationwide strike by pre-tertiary teachers.