Parents of students enrolled in the free Senior High School (SHS) policy have proposed decentralizing the school feeding program system and allowing schools to find their suppliers, with the government providing funds directly to them.
This suggestion follows a documentary titled ‘Empty Plates’ by Joynews, which highlighted issues with food provision in SHS’s, meanwhile the Ministry of Education, in response to the documentary defended the program’s quality, stating that students are being adequately fed.
Parents speaking with Univers News expressed their belief that the centralized system for distributing food is a significant issue in the school feeding program.
“Depending on Buffer Stock for the supply of foodstuff created significant pressure and sometimes led to delays in distribution.”
“The school feeding is a wonderful initiative but in terms of quality and quantity of the food, I think that’s the problem. So I suggest that the Government should ensure that the people contracted for these services are doing what is expected of them and it is also meeting the need and purpose.”
“Let the schools find their own supplier and then if you’ll give them the money to pay the suppliers that will solve the problem. If it is not adequate, as parents, we are ready to also support…We have to do everything right to make it work”
Programmes officer for Ghana Education Watch, Kwesi Nimo also supports parents’ call for the decentralization of the free SHS School Feeding Program.
“At first headmasters were procuring and we weren’t hearing much on food shortage so imagine a community based school, itself as a producer of yam,maize and rice, because production is done in the community,schools like that won’t pay much to get it unlike coming to Accra to get their foodstuffs. So if Government decentralize the system of distribution of food it will help schools that are located in other regions.”
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Story by: Dei Josephine Nana Efua | univers.ug.edu.gh
