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We, the affected staff of the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG), wish to express our gratitude for the positive impact you and your government have made on the lives of all Ghanaians.
This is the moment all well-meaning citizens have been waiting for. We salute you and your executives for your bold agenda, and may God strengthen you in your efforts.
However, we urgently seek your intervention regarding the conduct of the sitting Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai.
Professor Abdulai has unilaterally decided to downgrade a section of CETAG members without reference to any defined or standard policy, exacerbating the already precarious conditions of teachers following the migration—a process that would have remained incomplete if not for the change in government.
Regrettably, the Director-General’s approach in this matter does not align with the ideology of the current government. The sooner he is called to order, the better it will be for the NDC government, the educational sector, and posterity at large.
Since Prof. Abdulai became the substantive Director-General of GTEC, his regulatory style has deviated from the norms established by his predecessors, including Prof. Salifu. Migrations, as we know, have been a longstanding practice and did not start with Prof. Abdulai or GTEC.
In 2018, the then Executive Secretary of the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) resolved the “Skirt and Blouse” problem for tutors during the migration from the Ghana Education Service (GES) to the Colleges of Education payroll. Prof. Salifu and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) migrated all teaching staff whose first and second degrees did not align but who had been teaching in colleges before 2015, as tutors.
Similarly, Prof. Salifu resolved the GIJ staff issue by retaining all staff with non-research master’s degrees at the Assistant Lecturer rank, providing a two-year grace period to upgrade. Concessions were also extended to staff of technical universities and some university staff with MA, MEd, MTec, MSc, and other qualifications who were promoted to senior lecturers, in the interest of fairness, justice, and established precedent.
We, the downgraded teaching staff of the Colleges of Education, have been teaching for over fifteen (15) years, with various master’s degrees, even before the B.Ed. program was introduced in 2018. We have undergone professional development training spearheaded by T-TEL for over four (4) years and acquired expertise crucial for teacher education in Ghana. It is only fair that we receive transitional concessions to the rank of Assistant Lecturer.
However, the regulator, seemingly motivated by a desire to punish CETAG members for strikes allegedly impacting his party’s performance in the 2025 polls, has imposed unwarranted policies. These actions strip us of allowances essential to our work and deny us legally earned monies, despite our job descriptions remaining unchanged.
We are even denied the market premium, which retention premiums are provided to pre-tertiary teachers, among other benefits. This appears to be acute vindictiveness that should not be overlooked.
From the onset of our strike, the Director-General threatened punitive measures. His accusations—that our actions negatively impacted the 2024 elections—reflect a politically motivated stance rather than impartial regulation.
Prof. Abdulai’s approach demonstrates obstructionist behavior inconsistent with national interest. While he treats allowances such as book and research grants as ends in themselves, he denies teacher educators the necessary professional support to perform their roles. Non-teaching staff with similar or lesser qualifications receive allowances, while teacher educators do not—a clear display of inequity.
If his actions are not politically motivated, then he must justify:
Why transitional concessions were granted to librarians, non-teaching staff, principals, and others with similar qualifications but denied to teacher educators.
The rationale and precedent for the “Principal Instructor” rank he imposed.
The academic qualifications tied to this Principal Instructor rank.
His own PhD admission qualifications pursued outside Ghana.
His refusal to amicably resolve this matter, despite the lack of legal basis for his actions.
Mr. President, we recognize your pragmatic leadership and trust in your ability to intervene to protect the rights of affected members. We call on all well-meaning stakeholders, including Asiedu Nketia, to lend their voices to this urgent appeal. Ghana belongs to all of us; it is not the preserve of any one person or group.
Sincerely yours,
Affected members of CETAG.
