According to the Minister, the government is preparing a joint memorandum between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance to seek Cabinet approval for the phased recruitment of trained teachers from recent graduating cohorts.

“Ghana will need about 98,000 teachers to be recruited, but the compensation budget of government cannot accommodate that,” Mr. Iddrisu said on TV3’s New Day on March 5.

He explained that the planned memo—being prepared together with the Finance Minister—will request approval to begin absorbing teachers who completed training between 2023 and 2024, with additional graduates from 2025 expected to be considered later.

“The Minister of Finance is doing a joint memo with the Minister of Education for Cabinet to give approval for the recruitment of a cohort of teachers from 2023 to 2024, and very soon we will have 2025 added,” he said.

However, he stressed that recruitment will have to be done gradually.

“We cannot take all of them at the same time, but we will certainly absorb some numbers. At a minimum we should be doing about 6,000 to 10,000 to start with in order to respond to the needs across the country.”

Concern Over Declining Basic Education Quality

Mr. Iddrisu also expressed concern about what he described as a decline in the quality of basic education, stressing the need to strengthen foundational learning across the country.

He revealed that Ghana has secured $118 million in support from other development partners to improve foundational literacy and learning outcomes.

“The quality of basic education is declining and we need to strengthen foundational learning,” the Minister said.

Emphasis on Local Language Instruction

As part of the reforms, the Education Ministry is encouraging the use of local languages in early childhood education, arguing that children learn more effectively when taught in their mother tongue during their formative years.

“English remains Ghana’s official language, but we are encouraging as much as possible the use of local languages in the formative years because children learn better when they are taught in their own language,” he noted.

Mr. Iddrisu cited examples from across the country where local languages are being promoted in early education.

“For instance, in the Greater Accra Region we are encouraging the teaching of Ga, in Akan areas the teaching of Twi, and in Mole-Dagbani areas each of the local languages used by those groups,” he explained.

He added that there are also proposals to expand the list of recognized languages used in schools.

“Currently we have a request to include Builsa, and Ghana presently has 12 officially recognized languages,” he said.

The government believes the combined strategy of teacher recruitment, increased funding for foundational learning and expanded local language instruction will help improve learning outcomes at the basic education level.