Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has directed the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to ask public universities to announce their reopening dates towards the weekend, as the government intensifies efforts to end the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) strike.
He expressed optimism that the association would suspend the industrial action in the coming days to allow academic activities to resume across public universities.
Mr Iddrisu made the remarks on Monday, October 12, 2026, after a meeting with the leadership of GAUA and the Technical University Senior Administrators Association of Ghana (TUSAAG), alongside GTEC.
The strike has disrupted administrative operations at public universities, forcing the University of Ghana (UG) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to postpone their scheduled reopening dates.
Govt seeks to protect academic calendar
Mr Iddrisu said the government wanted universities to reopen before the end of the week so academic work could resume on Monday.
“It is my expectation that the universities can reopen towards the weekend and not later than the weekend so that academic work can begin on Monday so that we don’t lose the academic calendar to the strike and its impact,” he said.
He described the current academic calendar as the best Ghana had experienced in five years and said the government would do everything possible to protect it.
“Understandably, we have never come across a good academic calendar like this in the last five years. We will do everything possible to preserve the calendar,” he added.
However, the proposed reopening timeline depends on further consultations between the associations and their members, as no decision to suspend the strike had been announced at the time of the meeting.
The Education Minister clarified that his role in the discussions was to facilitate a resolution on behalf of the government rather than negotiate salaries directly.
“As I’ve indicated, the Minister for Education has no mandate for salary negotiations. I’m only facilitating on behalf of government,” he said.
He acknowledged that disagreements could arise between government and workers even though government was the employer of GAUA and TUSAAG members.
“But you have to recognize that government remains the employer of the entire membership of GAUA and TUSAAG. And therefore sometimes even the tongue and the teeth, they quarrel even though they are all in the same mouth. There can be legitimate disagreements, there can be legitimate conflicts,” he said.
Mr Iddrisu appealed to GAUA’s leadership to consider the impact of the strike on students and call off the action to allow normal academic work to continue.
He said the associations would need to consult their respective members before communicating a final decision.
GAUA’s strike, which began on August 10 and was briefly suspended before being reactivated on September 15, centres on disparities in the Interim Market Premium (IMP) paid to senior members in teaching and non-teaching positions.
The association maintains that a 2012 Compulsory Arbitration Award established parity at 114 per cent of basic salary. It argues that while the market premium for members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has since increased, GAUA’s has remained unchanged.
The dispute has disrupted administrative services, including admissions, student registration and accommodation allocation, affecting preparations for the new academic year.
In a statement issued on Sunday, October 11, the Ministry of Education said it had invited GAUA and GTEC to an urgent meeting to pursue an amicable resolution.
Following Monday’s meeting, attention has shifted to GAUA’s consultations with its members and whether the association will agree to suspend the strike.
Until a decision is announced, the reopening of public universities and the resumption of normal academic and administrative activities remain uncertain.