Savannah College of Education staff withdraw services, demand government payroll

About 170 teaching and non-teaching staff of the Savannah College of Education at Daboya have withdrawn their services, saying that more than a year after the college became a public institution, none of them has been placed on the government payroll.

The college was absorbed into the public Colleges of Education system in March 2025.

The staff say they will not return to work until concrete steps are taken to move them onto the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department payroll.

Local members of the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) and the Colleges of Education Non-Teaching Staff Association of Ghana (CENTSAG) announced the decision at a joint press conference in Daboya. They said the college’s transition cannot be considered complete while its workers have no government-paid salaries and no clear plan for their migration.

“Our concern is not to undermine government efforts or disregard the progress made since the college became a public institution. Rather, we seek to draw attention to the unresolved issues surrounding staff remuneration, recruitment and migration onto the government payroll, which continue to threaten staff and the smooth administration of the college,” they indicated.

Lecturer Jacob Kotochi said the government has met its commitment to pay student allowances but has left the staff out. According to him, no staff member has been put on any payroll since March 2025.

“The government fulfilled one side, which was to pay the student allowances, but staff were still left out. And I can tell you that since March 2025 to now, no single staff member from the college has been put on any payroll,” he said.

He said staff have kept working in the hope of a solution, even as living costs rise and many work away from their families. The allowances they receive are inadequate, he said, with the highest-paid getting less than GH¢2,000 and some as little as GH¢500.

Mr Kotochi said the decision to stop work came after several attempts to resolve the matter. College management took staff to the paramount chief of Daboya, and they also met regional officials and other stakeholders, but nothing has come of it.

“We didn’t just get up out of the blue to embark on this industrial strike,” he said.

He said the withdrawal of services will continue until staff are migrated onto the public payroll.