The government has paid the promotion salary arrears of 52,000 teachers, with payments for the remaining 28,000 still outstanding, the Education Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, has disclosed.
The Minister said the 52,000 teachers had successfully completed the validation process, out of about 80,000 who were demanding payment of their promotion arrears.
On Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Tuesday, October 27, Mr Iddrisu urged the remaining teachers not to embark on another strike, assuring them that steps were being taken to resolve their concerns.
“The 52,000 promotion arrears on the new grade were honoured by the government and paid by the government by October 16. What is outstanding is around 28,000, which includes some non-teachers; they may not be able to get payment because the validation process has not been completed,” he explained.
He said his office would meet with the teacher union leadership by the end of Tuesday to discuss the outstanding payments. “I am compelled to invite the teacher unions to an emergency meeting this morning. I have reached out to them.”
According to him, the government is working to ensure the remaining teachers receive their arrears by the end of November.
He added that an alternative option would be to provide a supplementary allocation for October to facilitate the payments.
“Not all of them may get their October salary; we may have to do another supplementary payment or push it to November,” the Minister noted.
The disclosure follows the suspension of industrial action by teachers over delays in the payment of their promotion salary arrears.