The Ministry of Finance has given financial clearance for the recruitment of over 16,000 newly-trained teachers by the Ghana Education Service (GES).

“Financial clearance is hereby granted to the Hon. Minister of Education to enable the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service to recruit sixteen thousand, eight hundred and fifty (16,850) newly trained teachers for the service,” a statement signed by the Deputy Minister of Finance, Abena Osei-Asare said.

The Director-General of the GES has also been asked to ensure that the teachers have their documents processed in time to facilitate payment of salaries.

“The Controller and Accountant-General is requested to effect the payment of salaries of the newly trained teachers and make appropriate deductions of Social Security and Income Tax to SSNIT and the Domestic Tax Division of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) respectively.”

The timely payment of teachers has been a major concern over the years.

Last year, newly-recruited teachers appealed to the Ministry of Education to settle their arrears.

At the time, they claimed they had been paid only a month out of their five-month salary arrears since they were employed in December 2019.

Before their employment, these teachers who were then serving as national service personnel threatened to drag the National Service Secretariat (NSS) to court over what they termed as illegal deductions from their allowances.