Mahama government treating teachers unfairly - NPP Russia branch

A statement issued by Abubakari Yushawu, Assistant Secretary of the Russia Branch said that unlike the NDC, the previous NPP administration had the welfare of teachers at heart.

He said that the NPP abolished the Three-Month Pay Policy, maintained the automatic posting of teachers, and cleared all arrears owed to teachers.

Then came the NDC again in 2025, he said they increased salaries by a paltry 10% and further decreased the increase to 9% in 2026.

"They have also wickedly abolished the automatic posting of teachers and refused to promote teachers who are duly qualified for promotion after going through interviews.

"They have also not paid the Continuous Professional Development Allowance for teachers," the statement said.

Below is the full statement...

I am going to base my analysis of the above question on a series of wicked policies implemented by John Mahama and the NDC that were targeted at teachers.

I got into teacher training college in 2013, when President Mahama was in office as President following the death of H.E. Prof. Mills. It was the same year that the issue of cancelling the teacher trainee allowance was brought up by JM and his government. I remember vividly that, as student teachers, we undertook a series of demonstrations to register our strong displeasure about the cancellation of the trainee allowance because it was the avenue through which many people could sponsor their education. However, the then Minister for Education and now Vice President, Jane Naana, told us to our faces that our concerns did not matter and that we could go to hell with our concerns. Alas, the teacher trainee allowance was cancelled.

Fast forward, the government also introduced a policy called the Three-Month Pay Policy, which meant that no matter the number of months the government owed workers, the government was committed to paying only three months’ salary arrears, while the rest would not be paid. It is known to everyone that when teachers are posted, it takes several months before their salaries are processed and paid. In some instances, it took years for these salaries to be processed, but regardless of the number of years they had worked, they were only going to be paid three months of those arrears.

Fast forward, we completed our training and were posted as teachers. Remember, we did not benefit from the teacher trainee allowance, and we were posted to very distant places, in some instances to different regions where our services were needed. We had to report to our stations by all means. We reported and worked for seven good months without salaries, and when our salaries finally came, we were paid for only two months out of the seven months we had worked. The NDC then left power in 2016.

Before the NPP came to power, the basic salary of a newly posted teacher was GH¢1,200. This meant that a newly posted diploma teacher was taking home a net salary of GH¢1,200 after working for 30 good days.

In 2017, after negotiations with teachers, the NPP increased the base pay by 12.5%, followed by 11% in 2018, 10% in 2019, and 15% in 2020. The government also approved the annual Continuous Professional Development Allowance of GH¢1,200, which significantly helped cushion teachers and improved their salaries.

It is important to note that the NPP abolished the Three-Month Pay Policy, maintained the automatic posting of teachers, and cleared all arrears owed to teachers.

Then came the NDC again in 2025. They increased salaries by a paltry 10% and further decreased the increase to 9% in 2026. They have also wickedly abolished the automatic posting of teachers and refused to promote teachers who are duly qualified for promotion after going through interviews. They have also not paid the Continuous Professional Development Allowance for teachers.

The question still remains: Does John Mahama hate teachers?