The National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), Mrs Getrude Quarshigah, has revealed that, her outfit has paid GH¢ 280 million arrears to caterers and cooks engaged by the scheme.
Speaking during an interview, Mrs Gertrude Quarshigah, who announced this, said about 2,244 people, mostly caterers and cooks, were employed by the programme compared to 1,365 under the NDC administration, representing an increase of 60 per cent.
She further noted that, despite a few challenges, the GSFP has been greatly beneficial to many families in the country’s 16 regions.
She revealed that, beneficiary schools currently stood at 258,583 from 120,029 when the New Patriotic Party-led government took office in 2017 adding that, the GSFP expanded its coverage in the Volta region to 60 per cent, increasing to 748 from the 455 schools in 2017, which included beneficiaries from Oti region.
Mrs Quarshigah said the Programme had fulfilled its major goal of promoting enrolment and retention of pupils in schools.
“With President Akufo-Addo in the classroom, we have performed better.”
She then commended the President for the special initiative, especially for the intervention of provision of hot meals to JHS finalists and their teachers countrywide and as well commended the various development partners, including the World Food Programme and UNICEF, who have supported the programme in diverse ways.
Mrs. Quarshigah said the GSFP, in collaboration with the Direct Feeding Programme (DFP), had carried out a pilot programme linking farmer-based organisations to the caterers to boost domestic economic activity.
She said the signature project dubbed ‘GSFP Nutrition and Innovative training programme’ was completed, leading to caterers and head cooks guiding the improvement in the quality of meals served to the pupils.
She further admonished parents to take good care of their wards, especially the girl-child so that they could continue to take advantage of government’s social intervention programmes like the free SHS to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.
She said the NPP government was passionate about social intervention programmes and believed they would translate directly into the needs of society, especially children and the vulnerable.
The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) is an initiative of the comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Pillar 3 which seeks to enhance food security and reduce hunger in line with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (MDGs) on hunger, poverty and malnutrition.
The initiative which was implemented in the year 2005, has immediate objectives which are to reduce hunger and malnutrition, increase school enrolment, attendance and retention, and boost domestic food production in deprived communities of the country with the development objective being to reduce poverty and enhance food security.
The basic concept of the programme also, is to provide children in public primary schools with one hot nutritious meal, prepared from locally grown foodstuffs, on every school going day. The aim of this is to spend 80% of the feeding cost in the local economy.
