Teachers Salary in Ghana: Annual and Monthly Breakdown (2023)

If you are reading this then my guess is that you want to know about teachers’ salaries in Ghana. Most people have sworn that they would never become teachers because they know teachers are underpaid. That used to be true in Ghana till a new salary structure was developed to ensure that teachers are well compensated for their efforts in nation-building.

Teachers Salary in Ghana

Teachers Salary in Ghana: Annual and Monthly Breakdown

In this article, we shall be discussing the salary structure of teachers in Ghana. Follow through as it promises to be an interesting and enlightening read.

Single Spine Salary Structure

This payment structure was introduced by the Government to improve the way public workers were being paid. It was established in 2010 to replace the former Ghana Universal Salary Structure. We all know that employment is one of the major factors that influence the growth and development of any country’s economy.

If the workers in an economy are well remunerated then the country is likely to have a fast rate of development since its employees are will to put in more effort to achieve set goals. Usually, employees are compensated through salaries, allowances, and bonuses. On the achievement of certain milestones, employees may be rewarded with a pay raise. By definition, a satisfied worker is one who receives a reward that is commensurate to the work done at the appropriate time.

The Single Spine Salary Structure was developed to ensure that Ghanaian workers were satisfied. This is because the country kept losing its workforce to other countries due to dissatisfaction, especially from poor salaries. The new pay structure implied that workers were paid based on their levels of qualification, experience, and the tasks performed.

When you observe the Single Spine Salary Structure employed in Ghana, you will notice that it is quite different from the orthodox pattern. Usually, the structure places all workers across parastatals on the same grades. In Ghana, however, each sector of the civil service has its own structure based on the required qualification, responsibilities, and grades. This way you will notice that the workers in the Ghanaian educational sector earn differently from those in the army or those in ICT.

Why the Single Spine Salary Structure was adopted

It is evident that the new structure brought with it several advantages. Prior to its adoption, it was noticed that there were malicious salary negotiations between the trade unions and the government. Each trade union tried to negotiate for a pay structure that was higher than its counterparts’ and this led to so much disparity. With the adoption of the Single Spine Salary Structure came the adoption of a universal minimum wage across all sectors.

Now, pay rises were not based on the negotiation power of the trade unions but on merit as all workers gain regardless of the sector they worked under. Thus, for a worker to benefit from a pay rise, he or she must be eligible for it.

Another issue the Single Spine Salary Structure addressed was the disparity in salaries across workers in the public service. It helped to harmonize salaries awarded across different classes of workers ensuring that workers gained a pay rise when they gained promotion.

Before the adoption of the SSS structure, there was a lot of irregularity in the payroll of workers which led to the wage bill rising at an alarming rate. The Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education both registered the highest of such irregularities prior to the implementation of the SSS structure.

The adoption of the SSS Structure by the Ghana Education Service

The Ghana Education Service successfully transitioned to the use of the SSS structure by 2011 even though it didn’t go down well with most of the teachers. The reason for the poor acceptance was that the system was implemented with several errors and thus the teachers felt cheated. It seemed to so many of them that the government had no interest in their welfare and just wanted to rip them off.

Before the implementation of the new salary structure teachers under the Ghana Education Service had the following earnings:

Teachers below or equal to Principal Superintendent – earned between 100 to 140 GHC.
Teachers above Principal Superintendent – earned between 500 – 800 GHC.

After the implementation of the SSS structure, the teachers began considerably more than they used to earn. Those below or equal to the principal superintendent level began earning between 500 and 800 GHC by 2014. Teachers who were above the principal superintendent grade earned between 900 and 1,200 GHC in the same year.

By 2018, the salaries of the teachers had increased significantly making the new salary structure more accepted by the teachers in the Ghana Education Service. Below are the ranks in the Ghana Education Service in descending order:

Director-General
Deputy Director
Assistant Director I
Assistant Director II
Principal Superintendent
Senior Superintendent I
Senior Superintendent II
Superintendent II
Superintendent I
Teacher

From the above, you will notice that the highest-ranking officer in the GES is the Director-General and the least ranking is the Teacher. Without much explanation, it means that the Director-General will earn the highest salary while the teacher will earn the least.

This is all the information available with respect to teachers’ salaries in Ghana. I believe this information must have been helpful to you on your quest for knowledge regarding the salaries of teachers in Ghana.