The President of the Trained Teachers Association of Ghana, Nanija Divine, has pushed back against claims that Ghana’s teacher employment challenge is mainly about distribution rather than recruitment.

Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday (15 April), he argued that thousands of trained teachers remain unemployed or unposted despite being fully qualified and licensed to teach.

He said the current backlog of trained teachers includes multiple cohorts, including recent graduates who have completed national service and are ready for posting.

According to him, the available figures suggest that tens of thousands of trained teachers are currently awaiting employment, making the government’s 7,000 recruitment slots insufficient to address the backlog.

He also criticised what he described as irregular recruitment patterns, arguing that hiring should be done annually in clear batches to ensure transparency and proper tracking of graduates entering the system.

Divine maintained that while discussions about distribution are important, they do not negate the fact that Ghana still has significant unmet employment needs in the education sector.

He further argued that teachers are trained specifically for classroom work, and therefore should be absorbed into the system rather than left idle while classrooms remain understaffed in parts of the country.