GES Recruitment: Government Makes GH¢1 million from Unemployed Qualified Teachers as 40,000 Applicants Pay GH¢25 to Check Recruitment Results

Thousands of unemployed qualified teachers across Ghana have checked the status of their applications after the Ghana Education Service (GES) released the results of its 2026 teacher recruitment exercise.

The recruitment exercise was opened after the government granted financial clearance for GES to employ new teachers into public schools. Applications were submitted through the official GES recruitment portal.

On July 24, 2026, GES announced that applicants could check their application status in phases. Early Childhood and Primary applicants were scheduled to check from 5:00 p.m., while Junior High School (JHS) and Senior High School (SHS) applicants were asked to check from 9:00 p.m.

According to the Ministry of Education, about 40,000 qualified teachers applied for the recruitment exercise. To check their application status, each applicant was required to purchase a GH¢25 voucher to access the recruitment portal. If all 40,000 applicants bought the voucher, the total amount generated from voucher sales would be about GH¢1 million.

Although around 40,000 qualified teachers applied for the available positions, only about 7,000 are expected to be recruited this year, leaving many applicants without employment.

Speaking in an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu said the recruitment portal was closed after just 24 hours because of the overwhelming number of applications.

“Within 24 hours, I had over 40,000 applications. What can you do? I don’t have the magic wand,” the Minister said.

He added that the government plans to recruit an additional 8,000 teachers in 2027 to help reduce the number of unemployed qualified teachers and address staffing shortages in schools.