The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

GHANA’S foreign affairs minister has announced that The Bahamas is ready to receive 300 Ghanaian teachers this year, prompting Bahamas Union of Teachers president Belinda Wilson to question how the government could negotiate their recruitment “in minutes” while failing after ten months of talks to secure salary increases for more than 2,000 Bahamian teachers.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said on Facebook that the proposed deployment followed official negotiations during his visit to The Bahamas for the country’s 53rd Independence Anniversary celebrations.

“This will be the first phase of a new cooperation in education,” he said.

In a statement, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Chester Cooper described the proposal as a “generous offer of cooperation” from Ghana to assist with the recruitment of up to 300 teachers as the Ministry of Education grapples with a shortage of roughly the same number.

He said officials held direct discussions with Mr Ablakwa during the Independence celebrations to advance the initiative, but stressed that Bahamians would receive first priority for all vacancies.

The announcement drew a furious response from Bahamas Union of Teachers president Belinda Wilson, who questioned why the union learnt of the proposed recruitment through a Ghanaian official.

“This is egregious and highly offensive to the hard-working, dedicated teachers of The Bahamas,” she said.

Mrs Wilson accused the government of moving more swiftly in talks over foreign teachers than in negotiations over salaries and outstanding payments for Bahamian educators.

She questioned how the prime minister and education minister could negotiate within minutes for 300 Ghanaian teachers while the union had been at the bargaining table since October 2025 without securing a salary increase for more than 2,000 teachers already in the system.

Mrs Wilson said hundreds of teachers were awaiting money owed to them, including rent allowances, while some people who graduated from the University of The Bahamas in 2025 were still waiting to be hired by the ministry.

“All we get are excuses,” she said, adding the government has ignored the union’s recommendations for addressing the teacher shortage.

Mr Cooper said the ministry faces a shortage of about 300 teachers, compounded by retirements, expiring contracts and the expansion of specialised subjects such as special education, technology, financial literacy, digital literacy and entrepreneurship studies.

He said a multi-agency task force was working to attract Bahamian educators, including recent graduates, recently retired teachers and former teachers interested in returning to the classroom.

The task force includes the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Public Service, the Department of Labour, the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the National Accreditation and Equivalency Council of The Bahamas.

Mr Cooper said officials had also engaged Kenya, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Philippines and other countries as they explored international cooperation to address the shortage.

He said any recruitment would be subject to the ministry’s standard procedures, including rigorous vetting of qualifications and character, cultural sensitivity training, orientation and a six-month immersion programme.

“For decades, we have benefitted from strategic international recruitment of educators from partner nations,” Mr Cooper said.

He stressed that international recruitment would be used only to fill vacancies that qualified Bahamians could not immediately take.

Mr Ablakwa said the proposed recruitment would extend labour mobility between the two countries beyond healthcare.

He said Bahamian authorities were impressed with the work ethic of Ghanaian nurses serving in The Bahamas under a similar agreement.

Mr Ablakwa also said Ghana and The Bahamas share an ancestral bond, with many Bahamians tracing their heritage to Ghana.