The Ministry of Education in a press release signed by the Ministry’s spokesperson, Mr. Kwasi Kwarteng, has indicated that contrary to the documentary released by the JoyNews, the school feeding program does not have any challenges.
The Ministry of Education stated that it had embarked on a monitoring exercise in collaboration with the media in the various Senior High Schools nationwide to validate whether or not the allegations laid against the Ministry and the school feeding initiative were true and to appropriately address these issues.
“The Ministry in response to a recent documentary by JoyNews highlighting the concerns about poor feeding and irregular food supply, in Senior High Schools embarked on a comprehensive nationwide visitation and monitoring exercise. The objective was to gain a fair understanding of the issue”.
Ministry of Education
The press release indicated that there is maintenance of an adequate stock of food in the storage facilities of the schools. The Ministry of Education stated that every Senior High School nationwide has food in their storage facilities to last them a long time. The Ministry also noted that the is a constant supply of food to schools to ensure that no school runs out of food and no student goes hungry.
The press release also noted that the funds allocated for the payment of perishable foods are disbursed on time. It specified that information acquired from schools shows that these payments are done promptly after the funds have been disbursed and are up-to-date. This indicates that there are no payments in arrears to be made to any school.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Education sought to inform the public, by the press release, that the Heads of various Senior High Schools nationwide have indicated their satisfaction with the school feeding initiative and the quality and quantity of food being served to students. The Ministry noted that the response of the Head of schools so far has reaffirmed the Ministry of Education’s resolve to deliver on its mandate.
“The Ministry is open to remedying any real anomaly found anywhere and reassures parents, students, and the general public of our unwavering commitment to providing adequate, high-quality, and timely food supplies to ensure an enhanced free and quality Senior High School program”.
Ministry of Education
Events Leading To The Inspection
It could be recalled that in 2023, the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) mourned the inability of the Food Buffer Stock Company to supply food items for Senior High Schools nationwide which resulted in students being fed poor quality and small quantities of food.
“Some schools have received items that when put together, could not be used to feed the students. For example, if you deliver beans, maize, rice, and maybe gari, you don’t expect the school to use those items to feed the students because you have not given me oil”
CHASS
In an interesting turn of events, some members of the CHASS, from the Eastern region, stated that their institutions have not experienced any food shortage. This left the public torn between whether the initial claim of the first group of CHASS members was false or not.
Multimedia’s JoyNews then conducted a probe into the issue and presented a documentary that suggested that the food supply was indeed irregular and far apart. The documentary also presented visual evidence of the poor quality and quantities of food that the students in various senior high schools were being served with.
The Ministry of Education to validate the findings of JoyNews and the claims of the members of the CHASS then embarked on an exercise in collaboration with the media, JoyNews included, and the Free SHS Secretariat to inspect the food conditions in the various Senior High Schools nationwide and to make its own conclusion on the issue.
Conclusively, while the report of the Ministry of Education may contradict the documentary of JoyNews, public opinion is still sided with the narratives that the food supply in the Senior High School is irregular and does not meet the nutritional needs of students.
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