If teachers matter, why are they still unpaid?

By Peter Anti PARTEY, PhD

No education system rises above the quality, dignity and stability of its teachers. They are the human engine of reform, translating curriculum into competence, policy into practice, and children into capable citizens. When teachers are treated with uncertainty and administrative neglect, the entire system trembles.

The continuous protests by newly-posted teachers have exposed two persistent failures: the non-issuance of staff identification numbers that block payroll enrolment under the Ghana Education Service (GES) and unpaid salary arrears stretching 12 to 15 months or more.

These are not minor clerical oversights. They represent a structural breakdown in teacher management and the fact that they have not been resolved raises serious questions about our commitment to the education sector.

Teachers who have been formally posted to schools are, by definition, needed. Their placement responds to staffing gaps, particularly in rural and underserved communities.

They teach full timetables, supervise students, prepare lesson notes and participate in school life. Yet without staff IDs, they remain invisible within the payroll system, present in the classroom but absent in official records.

If their services are required, why are they not fully recognised within the system? Why must young professionals begin their careers by petitioning for wages already earned?

Equally troubling is the growing number of trained and licensed teachers who remain outside the system altogether.

After completing accredited programmes and passing the licensure examination under the National Teaching Council, they are certified as professional educators. Licensure signals readiness, competence and compliance with national standards. Yet many remain unemployed or await recruitment indefinitely.

This raises difficult questions. Why invest public resources in training and licensing teachers if recruitment pathways remain uncertain? If vacancies exist, as evidenced by ongoing classroom shortages, why do qualified professionals remain sidelined? And if vacancies do not exist, why continue producing licensed graduates without clear workforce planning?

The cumulative effect is corrosive. Early-career teachers, instead of consolidating pedagogical skills, spend months navigating bureaucratic delays. Financial insecurity erodes morale. The profession’s social prestige declines when stories of unpaid labour dominate public discourse. Talented graduates, observing these patterns, may rationally choose alternative careers.

This is not merely a labour dispute; it is a governance issue. Effective public administration requires seamless coordination between recruitment, documentation, payroll activation and deployment. Delays beyond reasonable processing periods cannot be normalised. A digitised public sector should not require year-long waits to regularise employment.

Moreover, the ethical implications are profound. Teachers are entrusted with shaping civic responsibility, discipline and national values. What message does it send when the state fails to uphold reciprocal responsibility toward them?

The solution must be systemic: time-bound payroll integration for newly-posted teachers; transparent tracking of recruitment and staff ID issuance; alignment between teacher education output and national staffing projections; and emergency financial safeguards to prevent prolonged unpaid service.

A nation that proclaims education as its development priority must demonstrate that commitment in how it treats its teachers. When educators are compelled to protest for basic remuneration or wait indefinitely for recruitment despite licensure, the damage extends beyond individuals; it dents the credibility of the entire profession.

If teachers are indispensable to national progress, then their treatment must reflect that truth. Anything less undermines both education and the future it promises.

 Dr. Peter Anti Partey is a lecturer at UCC and  Executive Director, IFEST-Ghana.

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