By Ferdinand Ellis | EducateGhana.com
Last Updated: August 29, 2026

Article Information Box

Fact Check & Editorial Review

This article examines a policy question rather than presenting a predetermined conclusion.

Current evidence confirms that Ghana has 49 public Colleges of Education. The public Colleges offer four-year Bachelor of Education programmes, while teacher education is linked to professional licensing and subsequent employment within a wider education-sector workforce system.

The National Service Authority reported in March 2026 that 14,349 eligible trained teachers had been issued PIN codes for the 2026/27 national service year from 36 Colleges that had submitted their class lists. This provides an indication of the scale of annual teacher preparation, although national-service numbers should not automatically be treated as the exact number of annual College of Education graduates.

There is also evidence of a significant employment challenge. In May 2026, the Ghana National Association of Teachers reported that more than 100,000 qualified teachers from Colleges of Education and other tertiary institutions remained without jobs, while calling for an expansion of government recruitment.

In 2025, Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Nyarko Ampem also reported a large backlog of unemployed education professionals and said government faced a substantial fiscal burden if the accumulated backlog were absorbed into the public sector.

These figures require careful interpretation. Graduates from Colleges of Education do not constitute the entire population of unemployed education professionals, and not every trained teacher necessarily seeks employment in the Ghana Education Service.

The central policy question therefore is not simply whether Ghana is producing “too many teachers.” It is whether teacher-training capacity, admission decisions, teacher demand, public recruitment and national education planning are sufficiently connected.

Introduction

Every year, thousands of young Ghanaians apply to Colleges of Education hoping to become professional teachers.

For many families, the College of Education remains one of the most accessible routes into tertiary education and professional employment. For communities, Colleges of Education are important economic and educational institutions. For Ghana, they are essential to the preparation of teachers who will eventually teach millions of children.

Yet a difficult question is increasingly demanding attention.

How many teachers should Ghana train each year?

The question becomes more important when the number of people entering teacher education is considered alongside the number eventually absorbed into public teaching.

The National Service Authority’s 2026 figures alone show the scale involved. More than 14,000 trained teachers were issued national service PIN codes from 36 Colleges that had submitted their class lists.

At the same time, Ghana continues to experience teacher shortages in some communities and subjects.

That creates an apparent contradiction.

Ghana can have teacher shortages in schools while simultaneously having unemployed trained teachers outside the public payroll.

The problem, therefore, may not simply be the number of teachers Ghana produces. It may be the way teacher supply is planned, distributed and connected to actual vacancies.

This is where the debate about admission caps becomes important.

Should Ghana cap admission to Colleges of Education?

My answer is: Ghana should introduce a national teacher-workforce planning system that regulates admission numbers where necessary, but a crude uniform cap for every College would be the wrong solution.

The country needs a demand-based admission model.

➡ Related: Colleges of Education Admission Guide 2026/2027

➡ Related: 49 Colleges of Education in Ghana: Complete List and Admission Guide

Key Takeaways

• Ghana currently has 49 public Colleges of Education, not 46.
• The country needs more effective coordination between teacher-training admissions and teacher workforce demand.
• More than 14,000 trained teachers were issued national service PIN codes in 2026 from the Colleges that submitted their lists.
• Ghana simultaneously experiences teacher shortages in some regions and schools, showing that the problem is partly one of distribution and workforce planning.
• Public recruitment is constrained by government finances and the availability of financial clearance.
• A blanket admission cap could damage access to tertiary education, particularly for students from rural and disadvantaged communities.
• Ghana should consider a demand-linked admission model rather than allowing admission numbers to expand without reference to projected teacher requirements.
• Colleges should be differentiated according to institutional capacity, programme strengths, infrastructure and national teacher demand.
• Teacher education planning should be linked to GES vacancy projections, retirement, attrition, pupil enrolment, regional shortages and subject-specific requirements.
• The ultimate objective should be fewer unemployed qualified teachers, better-trained teachers and fewer classrooms without teachers.

The Real Problem: Ghana Can Have Teacher Shortages and Teacher Unemployment at the Same Time

The first mistake in this debate would be to assume that teacher unemployment automatically means Ghana does not need teachers.

That conclusion would be too simple.

The Volta Region, for example, recently became a practical illustration of the problem. The Regional Minister, James Gunu, directed GES to explore collaboration with the National Service Scheme and retired teachers to help address vacant classrooms while government pursued the recruitment of new teachers.

This tells us something important.

The country may have trained teachers waiting for employment while schools in particular locations still struggle to fill classrooms.

The problem is therefore partly allocation.

A teacher trained in one subject may not be needed in the district where he or she lives. A school may require Mathematics teachers while the available unemployed teachers are concentrated in another subject. A district may have excess teachers in one level while another level has vacancies.

Geographical distribution also matters.

The appropriate policy response must therefore distinguish between:

teacher production, teacher availability, teacher recruitment and teacher deployment.

They are related, but they are not the same thing.

➡ Related: Teacher Recruitment in Ghana Explained

➡ Related: GES Teacher Recruitment 2026 Updates

The Case for Regulating College of Education Admissions

1. Training Capacity Must Mean Something

A College of Education cannot expand admissions indefinitely simply because applicants are available.

Teacher education requires classrooms, laboratories, libraries, ICT facilities, lecturers, teaching practice placements, accommodation and opportunities for supervised professional learning.

The Bachelor of Education programme is also substantially different from the old teacher-training model.

Students are being prepared for professional practice through academic study, pedagogical preparation and Supported Teaching in Schools.

If student numbers grow faster than institutional capacity, the quality of professional preparation can suffer.

This is particularly important for teacher education because the product of the system eventually enters classrooms occupied by children.

The country should therefore ask every College a simple question:

How many teacher trainees can this institution prepare well?

The answer should not be determined by demand for admission alone.

It should be based on institutional capacity.

2. Admission Should Be Linked to Teacher Demand

A more important question than “How many applicants do we have?” is:

How many teachers will Ghana need five years from now?

That calculation should include:

• projected pupil enrolment
• teacher-pupil ratios
• retirement
• attrition
• expansion of schools
• new programmes
• regional teacher shortages
• subject-specific shortages
• urban-rural distribution
• government policy changes
• private-school employment
• special education needs

For example, if demographic projections indicate that Ghana will require significantly more early-grade teachers, admission into Early Grade Education should respond accordingly.

If Mathematics and Science teacher shortages are projected, institutions should receive incentives to train more teachers in those areas.

If a particular specialisation has persistent graduate unemployment, admission should be reviewed.

This would turn teacher education from a largely supply-driven system into a workforce-planning system.

3. The Public Payroll Cannot Be the Only Planning Variable

There is another important caution.

It would be dangerous to determine teacher-training admissions solely according to the number of teachers GES can employ immediately.

The Ghanaian education system contains public schools, private schools, international schools, NGOs, special schools, tertiary institutions and other educational organisations.

Teachers also move into administration, educational consultancy, curriculum development, assessment, publishing and other professions.

Therefore, the formula should not be:

GES vacancies = College admissions.

Instead, it should be:

National teacher demand + projected attrition + education-sector alternatives + strategic reserve = teacher-training requirement.

A modest reserve may be necessary because workforce projections are never perfectly accurate.

4. Quality Must Accompany Expansion

Ghana’s teacher education system has undergone significant changes.

The transition to the four-year Bachelor of Education has raised expectations concerning academic preparation, pedagogy and professional practice.

The admission system must therefore consider whether Colleges have enough lecturers and facilities to support the number of students admitted.

The question is not simply whether a lecture hall can physically contain 400 students.

The question is whether those students can receive adequate supervision, feedback, assessment and professional mentoring.

This becomes especially important during school-based professional experiences.

A teacher trainee should not become merely a registration number.

The trainee requires meaningful interaction with lecturers, mentors and school-based supervisors.

This is one reason Ghana’s teacher education planning should pay greater attention to student-teacher ratios, lecturer workloads and practicum capacity.

5. The Teacher Employment Crisis Cannot Be Ignored

The employment question is perhaps the strongest argument for reform.

In 2025, government officials reported a large backlog of unemployed education professionals and acknowledged the fiscal pressure associated with absorbing them into the public sector.

In 2026, GNAT also raised concern about the number of qualified teachers without jobs and called for increased recruitment.

These developments should trigger a national policy conversation.

A young person who spends four years obtaining a professional degree should not graduate into years of uncertainty simply because the institutions responsible for training and employing teachers operate with weak coordination.

The state owes prospective students honest information.

If Ghana knows that employment opportunities in a particular teacher specialisation are limited, applicants should know this before choosing the programme.

That is part of responsible career guidance.

The Case Against a Blanket Admission Cap

A policy of admission control also carries risks.

1. Colleges of Education Are Access Institutions

For many students, especially those from rural communities, a College of Education may represent one of the most affordable routes into tertiary education.

Reducing admission without considering socioeconomic circumstances could close opportunities for students who have limited alternatives.

A national policy must therefore protect access.

The objective should not be to turn Colleges of Education into institutions accessible only to students with the highest grades.

2. Ghana Still Needs Teachers

It would be contradictory to reduce teacher preparation sharply while some schools continue to experience teacher shortages.

The recent situation in the Volta Region demonstrates the point.

If classrooms are empty because teachers are unavailable, the national response cannot simply be to produce fewer teachers.

The system must first determine where the shortages are, which subjects are affected and why teachers are not reaching those schools.

3. The Problem May Be Distribution Rather Than Production

Imagine Ghana has 10,000 qualified teachers seeking employment.

Suppose 3,000 are urgently needed in deprived districts, 2,000 are needed in particular subjects and another 1,000 are needed in growing urban communities.

If recruitment and deployment mechanisms fail to connect those teachers with those vacancies, simply reducing admission into Colleges will not solve the problem.

It will merely reduce future supply.

The country therefore needs better labour-market information.

4. A Uniform Cap Would Punish Different Colleges Equally

The 49 public Colleges of Education do not have identical infrastructure, staffing levels, geographical conditions, programme portfolios or student demand.

A College with excellent accommodation, adequate lecturers and strong practicum partnerships should not necessarily receive the same admission ceiling as an institution struggling with infrastructure.

The policy should therefore be differentiated.

The Ellis Model: A Demand-Based Teacher Education Admission Framework

Ghana needs a framework that links admission to national teacher workforce planning.

I propose what may be termed the Ellis Teacher Education Admission and Workforce Planning Model.

The model rests on six principles.

1. Demand

GES and the Ministry of Education should publish an annual five-year teacher demand projection.

The projection should identify national and regional requirements by:

• level
• subject
• gender where necessary for strategic deployment
• special education
• geographical area

2. Capacity

Each College should undergo an annual capacity assessment.

The assessment should examine:

• lecturer numbers
• lecturer qualifications
• classroom capacity
• accommodation
• ICT infrastructure
• laboratories
• libraries
• teaching practice capacity
• student support systems

Admission should reflect demonstrated capacity.

3. Merit

Academic performance should remain an important component of admission.

However, merit should operate within a broader national strategy.

Ghana should avoid a situation where admission is driven entirely by political pressure or institutional competition for student numbers.

4. Equity

A demand-based system must protect disadvantaged communities.

Special consideration may be necessary for applicants from deprived districts and communities where teacher recruitment remains difficult.

This should be transparent and based on published criteria.

5. Specialisation

Ghana should encourage Colleges to develop areas of comparative strength.

Some institutions could develop stronger programmes in:

• Early Grade Education
• STEM Education
• Special and Inclusive Education
• Languages
• TVET Education
• Agricultural Education
• Digital Education
• Rural and Community Education

Admission could then reflect national demand for these specialisations.

6. Employment Tracking

This is perhaps the most important component.

Government should establish a national database tracking graduates from Colleges of Education.

The database should show:

admission → graduation → national service → licensing → employment → deployment → retention.

Without this information, policymakers are planning teacher education with incomplete evidence.

Should Ghana Cap Admission at 350 Students Per College?

The idea of a uniform ceiling of 350 students per College is attractive because it is simple.

But I would not recommend making 350 a permanent national figure without institution-specific evidence.

A College’s appropriate intake should depend on its capacity and the national demand for its programmes.

A better formula would be:

Approved Admission = Demonstrated Institutional Capacity × National Programme Demand × Quality Threshold

This allows a College with strong capacity in a high-demand specialisation to admit more students than a College with limited capacity in an oversupplied field.

The number should therefore be calculated rather than politically negotiated.

What GTEC, PRINCOF, MoE and GES Should Do

The debate cannot be left to Colleges alone.

Ministry of Education

The Ministry should establish a national teacher workforce planning committee involving:

• MoE
• GES
• GTEC
• NTC
• PRINCOF
• National Service Authority
• Ministry of Finance
• teacher unions
• Colleges of Education
• universities
• private-school representatives

The committee should publish annual teacher demand projections.

GTEC

GTEC should ensure that institutional capacity is considered when approving programmes and enrolment.

Accreditation should not end with programme approval.

Actual student numbers should also be monitored against institutional capacity.

GES

GES holds some of the most important workforce information.

It should provide reliable projections of:

• vacancies
• retirements
• attrition
• subject shortages
• regional shortages
• projected enrolment

NTC

NTC should contribute professional standards and licensing data.

Licensing information can help policymakers understand how many graduates successfully progress through the professional pipeline.

PRINCOF

PRINCOF should ensure that Colleges participate in national workforce planning rather than competing primarily for higher enrolment.

The Government Must Also Address Teacher Deployment

Admission reform alone will not solve Ghana’s teacher problem.

The government must make difficult schools and deprived communities more attractive.

That may require:

• rural posting incentives
• accommodation support
• hardship allowances
• accelerated promotion opportunities
• professional development
• improved school infrastructure
• stronger teacher mentoring

A qualified teacher who refuses a deprived posting because the conditions are unbearable is part of a workforce policy problem.

The answer cannot always be to train another teacher.

Ghana Should Stop Treating Teacher Education and Teacher Employment as Separate Policies

This may be the central lesson.

At present, a young Ghanaian can:

1. Complete WASSCE.
2. Enter a College of Education.
3. Spend four years obtaining a B.Ed.
4. Complete national service.
5. Meet professional licensing requirements.
6. Wait for public recruitment.

At each stage, different institutions may control different parts of the process.

What is missing is a sufficiently integrated national workforce strategy.

Teacher education should therefore be viewed as a pipeline.

Admission is the beginning of the pipeline.

Employment is one of its principal destinations.

If the destination is congested, policymakers must examine the entire pipeline.

A New Question for Ghanaian Policymakers

The debate should not be reduced to:

“Should we admit more students?”

Nor should it be reduced to:

“Should we cap admissions?”

The better question is:

How many teachers does Ghana need, in which subjects, in which regions, at what time, and what number can the country’s teacher education institutions prepare to the required professional standard?

That is the question that should guide admission.

It moves the discussion from political pressure to workforce evidence.

My Position

I support regulated admissions, but I do not support a crude national cap imposed equally on every College of Education.

Ghana should adopt a demand-based, capacity-sensitive and equity-conscious admission system.

The government should determine annual teacher-training requirements using reliable workforce data.

Colleges should receive admission ceilings based on their capacity and programme strengths.

Students should continue to have broad access to teacher education, but they should also receive transparent information about employment prospects.

The state should publish teacher demand projections.

Teacher unions should participate in the planning process.

GES should strengthen deployment and recruitment.

GTEC should enforce institutional quality standards.

NTC should contribute licensing and professional data.

PRINCOF should help coordinate the Colleges.

This would create a system in which Ghana trains teachers because the country needs them, rather than simply because applicants are available.

The Bigger Issue Is the Future of the Teaching Profession

There is also a deeper issue here.

If young people repeatedly see professionally trained teachers spending years without employment, the teaching profession may gradually lose some of its strongest potential entrants.

That would be damaging.

Ghana needs talented young people to see teaching as a serious profession.

Teacher education must therefore offer a credible pathway from admission to professional practice.

The answer is not simply to reduce the number of students.

It is to create a system in which training, licensing, employment and professional development are planned together.

A teacher should know why he or she is being trained.

A College should know why it is admitting a particular number of students.

GES should know how many teachers it expects to need.

Government should know the financial implications.

And Ghanaian taxpayers should know that public investment in teacher education is being used responsibly.

Conclusion: Ghana Must Decide What Kind of Teacher Education System It Wants

The debate over College of Education admission is no longer a narrow question about how many students a College should admit.

It is a question about national planning.

Ghana has invested heavily in expanding access to teacher education. The transition to degree-level preparation has strengthened the professional aspirations of the sector.

The next stage must be smarter planning.

The country cannot afford a system in which teacher education expands without reference to institutional capacity, workforce demand and employment prospects.

At the same time, Ghana cannot afford to reduce teacher production blindly while classrooms remain without teachers.

The solution lies between these two extremes.

Train enough teachers. Train them well. Train them for identifiable national needs. Deploy them where they are needed. And give them a realistic pathway into professional employment.

That should be the future of teacher education policy in Ghana.

The question for policymakers is therefore no longer simply whether Colleges of Education should admit more students.

It is:

What number of teachers does Ghana actually need, and what system will ensure that every teacher we train has a meaningful professional pathway?

That is a conversation Ghana should have before the next admission cycle.

Author’s Note

This analysis is written by Ferdinand Ellis, an education researcher, lecturer, curriculum specialist and education policy analyst. His academic work has included research into the implementation of Supported Teaching in Schools and professional practice learning within Ghana’s teacher education system.

The purpose of this editorial is to stimulate evidence-based discussion among policymakers, teacher educators, teacher unions, prospective teachers and the wider public.

The proposed Ellis Teacher Education Admission and Workforce Planning Model is presented as a policy proposal for discussion. It is not an existing government policy.

References

Ghana Education Service. (2024). Teacher recruitment and self-posting of newly trained teachers. Ghana Education Service.

Ghana National Association of Teachers. (2026, May 1). GNAT demands expansion of teacher recruitment. Ghana News Agency.

Ghana News Agency. (2024, July 5). GES recruitment: More than 12,000 due for self-posting.

Ghana News Agency. (2025, October 17). GES secures clearance to pay 6,249 teachers.

National Service Authority. (2026, March 9). NSA issues PIN codes for over 14,000 trained teachers. MyJoyOnline.

Principals of Colleges of Education. (2025). Admission into the forty-six public Colleges of Education for the 2025/2026 academic year.

Ferdinand Ellis. (2026). Colleges of Education in Ghana: Complete guide. EducateGhana.com.

Ferdinand Ellis. (2026). Teacher recruitment in Ghana explained: GES hiring process, requirements, challenges and policy issues. EducateGhana.com.