GES to Begin Issuing Appointment Letters to 7,000 New Teachers on July 24; 16,000 More to Be Recruited

The Ghana Education Service (GES) will begin issuing appointment letters to 7,000 newly recruited teachers from Friday, July 24, 2026, Minister for Education Haruna Iddrisu has announced.

“The appointment letters should be out from the Director-General of GES beginning Friday,” he said.

Speaking at the Government Accountability Series, the Minister said the appointment letters would mark the completion of the first phase of government’s teacher recruitment exercise.

Although the newly recruited teachers were initially expected to begin work on July 1, 2026, Mr. Iddrisu explained that the timeline had to be revised due to administrative processes.

The latest announcement follows government’s decision in April 2026 to secure financial clearance to recruit at least 7,000 teachers nationwide to address staffing shortages in public schools and reduce graduate unemployment.

Following the approval, the Ghana Education Service opened its recruitment portal to graduates from the 2023, 2024 and 2025 cohorts of Colleges of Education and other eligible teacher training institutions.

The recruitment exercise attracted overwhelming interest, with more than 40,000 applicants competing for the 7,000 available positions.

The Minister also announced that President John Dramani Mahama and the Minister for Finance have approved the recruitment of an additional 16,000 teachers in two phases beginning in November 2026.

According to him, the first batch of 8,000 teachers will assume duty in January and February 2027, while another 8,000 will be recruited in the second phase.

Mr. Iddrisu said the recruitment exercise is targeted at addressing teacher shortages in underserved communities, noting that deprived districts have been prioritised over already well-staffed urban areas.

“We know that there is a deficit of teachers across the country. In this recruitment process, we have prioritised deprived districts,” he said.

The Minister further disclosed that recruitment will extend beyond the pre-tertiary sector, with additional approvals granted for the employment of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) teachers and staff for tertiary institutions.

Overall, he said, the education sector is expected to recruit close to 10,000 personnel in the current phase, adding that appointment letters have already been issued through the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) for some university staff.