Three-month pay policy for teachers: NPP’s claim of clearing all accumulated arrears false

The 2024 manifesto of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) touts the achievements of the Nana Akufo Addo-led government’s in various sectors of the economy.

Among the achievements listed in the education sector is the cancellation of the 3-month arrears policy implemented by the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.

In this report, Fact-Check Ghana has verified the claim and present the facts below.

Claim: “abolished the 3-month arrears policy for teachers and cleared all accumulated arrears between 2011 and 2022.”

Verdict: False 

Explanation 

The 3-month pay policy implemented by the then government ensured that newly recruited teachers and already working teachers who were promoted were paid only three months’ arrears irrespective of the number of years they had worked.

According to the policy, the affected teachers would be taken through a validation process after which deserving teachers would be paid the remaining months worked.

Teacher unions such as the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) Ghana took on the then government and demanded that the policy be abolished.

In April 2016, a group calling itself Victims of Three Months Pay Policy (V3MSPP) protested against the policy and called on the then government to abolish it and pay all arrears to the affected teachers.

The then opposition NPP launched a scathing criticism against the government for implementing the policy. The party also promised to abolish the policy if they won the 2016 general elections.

Upon assumption of office, the teacher unions continued to demand the cancellation of the policy.

Eventually, the Nana Akufo Addo-led government abolished the policy.

Have all arrears been paid?

In the 2024 manifesto of the NPP, the party stated categorically that all accumulated arrears from the 3-month pay policy had been cleared.

However, Fact-check Ghana’s checks reveal that not all the affected teachers were paid the 3-month pay policy arrears.

In August 2020, the then Minister for Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh announced in parliament that the government had cleared 91% of ‘legacy arrears’ that included arrears accumulated from the 3-month pay policy.

On November 1, 2020, the then Director General of the Ghana Education Service, Prof. Kwasi Opoku Amankwa announced that the government had released GHS 104 million to pay the arrears of 32, 504 teachers who were affected by the 3-month pay policy.

However, some teachers still complain of not receiving their arrears despite going through the validation process successfully.

The National Secretary of the Victims of Three Months Pay Policy (V3MSPP), Daniel Owusu Baffoe, said not all their members were paid the arrears.

He explained that because some of their members were paid, it weakened their front and their resolve to continue to push for the rest to be paid.

Though he could not tell how many members were paid he said there are many of their members who are yet to receive the arrears.

Mr Owusu Baffoe’s claim was affirmed by some teachers who spoke with Fact-check Ghana.

A teacher at Choggu Demonstration JHS told the team that though he filled out forms on three different occasions for payment of the arrears, he was not paid.

Another teacher in the Sagnarigu Municipality said though he was duly validated he never received the arrears.

Even though the 3-month pay policy was abolished, the claim that all the arrears have been cleared is false.