Legal practitioner, Austin Kwabena Brako-Powers, has said government has created a credibility deficit in its dealings with pre-tertiary teachers regarding their strike.
He says government has over the years failed to honour promises made to teachers, a situation that has deepened mistrust.
According to him, the continuous meetings without concrete results have eroded confidence, making it difficult for teachers to accept assurances.
Speaking on the BigIssue segment on the NewDay morning show on TV3 Tuesday, September 29, 2026, Brako-Powers said the current approach of asking teachers to return to the classroom while issues are addressed will not resolve the impasse.
“It’s becoming one meeting after the other and one promise after the other,” he said.
He avers there is a confidence deficit and government must do better in addressing the concerns of the teachers. “There is a confidence deficit and government has to do better than to tell them to go to the classrooms and you’ll deal with the issues,” he stated.
Brako-Powers said the practical way to resolve the impasse is for government to commit to clear timelines for addressing the issues.
“Because the immediate practical middle ground in getting out of this problem is to agree to some milestones that within two to three months, this is what we’ll do,” he noted.
The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG) declared a nationwide strike on Friday, September 25, 2026.
Their concerns include the expiration of their Collective Agreement since June, failure to automatically place about 80,000 teachers who sat for aptitude tests in December 2025 and February 2026 on their appropriate salary scales, and the non-implementation of the 20% Deprived Area Allowance which has been outstanding since 2009.
A meeting between the unions and the Education Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, on September 28 failed to end the strike after the unions rejected government’s appeal to return to the classroom.
The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission is expected to meet the unions on October 6 while the Ghana Education Service has been given one week to submit outstanding documents to process promotion arrears.
