EduWatch: Deploy Teachers Now (30,000 Classrooms Empty, Deprived Allowances Needed Urgently)
Kofi Asare, Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (EduWatch), has called on the government to quickly send teachers to areas that need them and give them the promised allowances for working in those areas. He warned that not hiring teachers in 2025 has left about 30,000 classrooms without teachers and made the teacher shortage worse across the country. On Tuesday, he talked about President John Dramani Mahama’s first year in office on Channel One TV. He said, “We didn’t hire even one teacher in 2025, and the effects have been severe.” He added that the shortage is causing classrooms to be overcrowded and making students drop out of school, especially in poor areas. He stressed that both hiring new teachers and giving them extra money to work in poor areas are necessary to solve the crisis. He said, “The government promised to implement a policy under which teachers who accept postings to deprived areas will be given deprived allowances, and such incentives must go hand in hand with the deployment of teachers to those areas.” He also pointed out that Ghana needs at least 15,000 new teachers every year to keep things in balance and that keeping the promise of deprived-area allowances along with deployment is essential for fairness and long-term sustainability.
