- Haruna Iddrisu admitted the country needs 50,000 teachers but can only fund 7,000.
- Over 40,000 applications were received before the GES portal was closed early.
- The Minister cited budgetary constraints as the primary reason for the limited intake.
In a candid assessment of the nation’s educational staffing needs, the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has revealed that while the country requires tens of thousands of new teachers, financial limitations have forced a much smaller intake. Speaking at the launch of the 19th edition of the eLearning Africa Conference on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, the Minister admitted that the current recruitment figure is a fraction of what is actually needed.
“If resources were available, we would be able to employ up to 50,000 teachers across the country, but we are unable to do so due to budgetary constraints,” the Minister stated. He explained that after extensive consultations, the Ministry of Finance only granted financial clearance for 7,000 teachers for the current cycle. This admission highlights a real and widening gap between the “People & Places” needing educators and the state’s ability to fund them in 2026.
The Minister’s remarks come amid mounting pressure from unemployed graduates and educational think tanks like IMANI and COPEC, who argue that 7,000 slots are woefully inadequate for a growing student population. According to the Ghana Education Service (GES), the recruitment portal which opened on April 10 received over 40,000 applications in just a few days, forcing an early closure to manage the overwhelming volume. Iddrisu noted that this surge reflects a difficult employment crisis that the government is attempting to manage.
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Despite the shortfall, the Minister maintained that the selection of the 7,000 will be done with absolute transparency. Priority is being given to graduates from the 2023, 2024, and 2025 cohorts who are willing to serve in deprived and rural areas. He emphasized that while the 50,000 target remains a long-term goal, the government must stay within its current fiscal means to ensure that those recruited are paid consistently and without delay.
To complement the limited human resource expansion, the Minister also unveiled plans for a new Digital Education Policy. This initiative aims to use technology to bridge systemic gaps in schools that remain understaffed, modernizing learning outcomes across the country even as the ministry navigates these tight budgetary waters.
