Africa
Bahamas’ Ghana Teacher Plan Draws Fire as Both Nations Face Shortages
By Deandrea Hamilton | Editor
NASSAU, Bahamas (July 14, 2026) — The Bahamas Government says it needs the 300 teachers being sourced from Ghana to help close a critical staffing gap, even as criticism mounts over unresolved employment matters reportedly affecting approximately 2,000 Bahamas Union of Teachers members and as Ghana itself struggles with a massive shortage in the profession.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Science and Technology Chester Cooper said the shortage has been worsened by
Cooper said the Government has established a multi-agency task force and is attempting to attract recently retired teachers, new graduates and educators who previously left the profession.
“In keeping with government policy, Bahamians will be given first priority to fill all vacancies,” Cooper said.
However, the optics surrounding the decision are sketchy at best, with the BUT pressing the Government to settle long-standing matters affecting its members while Ghana grapples with a teacher shortage estimated at no fewer than 50,000 educators.
Ghana’s Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, recently disclosed that the country needs between 50,000 and 90,000 additional teachers to adequately staff its schools.
UNICEF’s 2026 Teachers for All: Ghana report confirms that Ghana is not only experiencing an overall teacher shortage but also serious inequalities in how available teachers are distributed. It found that rural and underserved schools are particularly affected, while Ghana’s primary teacher workforce fell by more than 25 percent—from 131,094 in 2019–2020 to 93,818 in 2022–2023—as student enrolment increased.
The report stated:
“Not only is there a teacher shortage in Ghana, but inefficiencies also exist in the current distribution of available teachers.”
That finding raises questions about why a country with such a significant domestic deficit is prepared to facilitate the overseas recruitment
Meanwhile, BUT President Belinda Wilson has argued that the Bahamian Government has substantial unfinished business with the teachers already serving in the public system.
According to Wilson, approximately 2,000 educators are awaiting the conclusion of salary negotiations, while hundreds reportedly have unresolved matters involving confirmations, salary reassessments, promotions, rental allowances, examination marking fees, disturbance allowances, hardship payments and coaching allowances.
The union has also complained that it was not properly consulted before the proposed recruitment became public and has demanded details about the qualifications, subjects, deployment locations and employment conditions being considered for the Ghanaian teachers.
The debate is also unfolding as the University of The Bahamas has produced approximately 219 education graduates over the past three years—76 in 2024, more than 60 in 2025 and 73 in 2026.
Cooper maintains that overseas recruitment is intended only to fill positions that cannot immediately be occupied by qualified Bahamians.
“For decades, we have benefitted from strategic international recruitment of educators from partner nations,” he said. “We emphasize that such recruitment is intended only to address vacancies that cannot be immediately filled by qualified Bahamians.”
Still, the questions remain: why are outstanding matters affecting thousands of Bahamian teachers unresolved, and why is The Bahamas sourcing educators from a country that acknowledges it is tens of thousands of teachers short itself?