A coalition of teacher unions has threatened industrial action if newly promoted teachers are not placed on their appropriate salary scales by Monday, August 31, 2026.

The unions say the threat follows a directive from the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department which, they claim, contradicts an earlier assurance by the Ghana Education Service (GES) that teachers who successfully completed the promotional process would be placed on their new grades by August.

The unions are demanding that the affected teachers be enrolled on their respective salary scales by the close of work on Monday, warning that they may no longer be able to restrain members from taking industrial action if the deadline is missed.

“We the teacher unions, we have no option than to make it clear that the automatic promotion of teachers or placement of teachers on the required grade as to where they should be on the promotion as of the results that came out, they should be put on their respective scales by close of work on Monday, 31st August, 2026,” General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Thomas Musah, said.

He described the Controller and Accountant-General’s directive as unlawful and warned that responsibility for any disruption would rest with the relevant agency heads.

“Failure to do so, whatever happens thereafter, His Excellency should hold the agency heads there responsible. We, the teacher unions, we cannot restrain any teacher from that particular day,” he said.

Meanwhile, President of the Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG), Jacob Anaba, accused the GES of failing to provide teachers with detailed data on the outcome of the promotional examinations.

He said unlike previous years, the Service had not disclosed the number and percentage of teachers who passed or failed, or provided a breakdown of successful candidates by grade, including Deputy Director, Assistant Director I and II, and Principal Superintendent.