The Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has disclosed that Ghana’s education sector is grappling with a significant shortage of teachers, estimating that the country currently requires between 50,000 and 90,000 additional teachers to adequately meet the demands of schools across the country.
According to the minister, despite the pressing need for more educators, financial limitations and budgetary restrictions have made it difficult for the government to recruit the number of teachers required to bridge the gap.
Haruna Iddrisu made the disclosure while addressing Parliament on Thursday, June 18, during discussions on issues relating to teacher recruitment and staffing within the education sector.
Explaining the government’s position, the Education Minister noted that recent reforms within the education sector have expanded the scope of teacher deployment, requiring the government to distribute available recruits across various educational institutions and agencies.
He stated that the establishment and strengthening of institutions such as the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) have created additional staffing demands that must be addressed within the limits of available resources.
“The country has evolved and we have taken reforms that will benefit education in the foreseeable future. We now have the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and the GES and so when we are recruiting, we allocate teachers for TVET and GES but there is a difference between need and what I have budgetary approval for.
“My need for teachers is between 50,000 and 90,000, but I had clearance for 7,000, and that is what I am making do with.”
The minister’s remarks provide insight into the government’s recent decision to recruit only 7,000 teachers, a move that generated considerable debate among education stakeholders and unemployed graduates.
Many trained teachers had expressed disappointment with the limited recruitment exercise, arguing that the number of available positions falls far short of addressing the growing backlog of unemployed education graduates across the country.
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