Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Education, has appealed to the leadership of the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) to call off their strike and allow academic activities to resume at public universities by October 19, 2026.
The Minister urged their leadership to return to the negotiation table with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to resolve the outstanding issues.
“I will issue a directive to the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission by close of the week to request public universities to reopen by October 19, 2026,” the Minister announced at a meeting with the leadership of GAUA on Monday.
He expressed the expectation that the striking workers – GAUA – would return to work by that date, subject to continued engagement on their outstanding concerns.
The Minister said the strike had already affected the reopening schedules of the University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, which had announced postponements of their reopening dates.
He expressed the hope that the universities would reopen on October 19 to enable academic work to resume and prevent further disruption to the academic calendar.
“I want to request GAUA to consider calling off the strike action for normal academic work to proceed and continue throughout all our university campuses across Ghana,” he said.
The Minister clarified that his role in the discussions was to facilitate negotiations on behalf of the Government, explaining that salary negotiations fell outside the direct mandate of the Ministry of Education.
He, however, acknowledged that the Government remained the employer of the affected workers and assured the unions that their legitimate concerns would receive priority attention.
On issues that could be addressed immediately, the Minister said the Ministry would expedite action through the GTEC to request public universities extend the retirement rollover arrangement to all senior members, in line with previous practice.
He disclosed that the Minister of Finance had issued a warrant for the payment of the one-off research allowance, adding that the relevant institutions were expected to complete the necessary administrative and payroll processes to facilitate payment.
On the issue of market premium, the Minister said the matter, including the restoration of parity, had been referred to the FWSC for further engagement with the unions.
He expressed optimism that the Commission would take the necessary action within its mandate and communicate the consequential steps required from the Ministry of Finance to address the unions’ concerns.
The Minister recalled that the Minister of Finance had committed to a negotiated 40 per cent adjustment to the market premium and non-basic allowance, saying the Government considered that matter to have made progress towards resolution.
He urged the union leaders to consult their members and reconsider the strike in the interest of students and the preservation of the academic calendar.
The Minister said the Government’s efforts to align the reopening of schools at all levels in September were intended to improve the coordination of the country’s academic calendar, stressing that further disruptions could undermine that objective.