MoE criticises poor quality of meals ‘served’ under Free SHS policy
The Minister of Education, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has expressed concern over the poor quality of meals served to students in government Senior High Schools (SHS) under the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy.
He has said the President John Dramani Mahama government may be forced to reconsider its decision to allow heads of public second-cycle schools in the country to manage food procurement if standards do not improve.
“In our National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto, we pledged to allow headmasters, bursars, and institutions to manage food supply. We are not satisfied with the quality of the food that is being supplied. And we are not satisfied even with the timely distribution of the food,” Honourable Haruna Iddrisu stated.
The Minister in Charge of Education and Member of Parliament for Tamale South Constituency added that despite the policy being a manifesto commitment, the central government prioritises student welfare.
“We don’t mind reversing that policy decision, even though it was a manifesto promise, we are to guarantee that the food products supplied are of good quality, and its distribution is also timely,” the Education Minister stated.
The Minister for Education, speaking at the inauguration of the new Ghana Education Service Board Council, also noted that internal audits within Senior High Schools (SHSs) would be strengthened to improve oversight of food supply.
Meanwhile, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, a spokesman to President John Dramani Mahama, has assured that going forward, the government will put adequate measures in place to address the shortfalls in feeding under the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme.
The President’s spokesperson’s assurance follows the central government’s release of GHS200 million to address the shortfalls early this academic year.
In an interview monitored by Pretertiary.com, he highlighted the poor planning and implementation of the education policy by the erstwhile government, which led to a situation where schools were reopened without adequate food supplies.
“Beyond that, GHS200 million was released about a week ago or a week and a half ago to address the shortfalls in feeding. Again, because of poor planning and poor implementation of the education policy, we had a situation where schools were going to be opened, and yet there was no food available to feed the students,” he stated.
The government official noted that when stakeholders in the education sector, particularly headmasters, requested that the government defer the opening date, the request was refused, resulting in schools reopening without food.
“So, upon taking office, President Mahama took decisive action and within a few days, he ordered that food be evacuated to the schools. In addition to that, GHS200 million was released to the various schools through the Ghana Education Service to procure food for the students,” Kwakye Ofosu added.
The spokesman to President John Dramani Mahama assured that going forward, adequate measures will be put in place to ensure that there is enough food to feed the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) students.
“So for now, that has been done and going forward, adequate measures will be put in place to ensure that we have enough food to feed the students,” he said in an interview with an Accra-based television station.
