Over 16,000 Ghanaian teachers apply to UK Department of Education

More than 16,000 Ghanaian teachers are seeking jobs in the education sector of the United Kingdom. The teachers applied for the jobs in 2023.

Professor Peter Quartey, the Director of the Institute for Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) is therefore urging the Ghana government to create more job opportunities for teachers to reduce the attrition rate.

He said most teachers who sought greener pastures did so because of unemployment, low wages, and poor working conditions, and he called on the authorities to address the issues and ensure improvement in learning outcomes.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, the Professor said that though the country could not stop migration, there was a need to manage the situation.

“If the country has excess teachers, then it can export, but in a coordinated manner to maximise the benefits for the country,” he said.

Prof Quartey said the government could institute measures and set a quota for teachers to migrate and pay remittances to the country as part of an agreement to defray the training cost.

He said a country like the Philippines had done that not only in the teaching space but the health sector and had received foreign inflows.

Dr Christian Addai-Poku, the Registrar, National Teaching Council, raised concerns about the teacher attrition rate in 2023 and called for a concerted action to address the situation.

He said over 16,000 Ghanaian teachers had applied for positions with the Department of Education in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2023.

The Registrar said by June 13, 2023, approximately 10,000 of those applicants holding Ghana Teacher Licences were granted certification to work in the UK without requiring further assessment by the UK government.