School Feeding to be expanded to cover 4 million students
Caterers under school feeding call for 50% increment in grant
Auditor General pegs losses associated with School Feeding at GH¢2 billion
The government of Ghana, beginning 2022, intends to expand coverage of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) from 3.4 million to cover over four million school children.
However, despite the intent to increase coverage, the government plans to peg the grant at GH¢1 per plate of food for primary pupils and Senior High School students.
This development has generated concerns among some stakeholders who say the grant of GH¢1 per plate is inadequate and will invariably compromise the quality of meals served to schoolchildren.
The Ghana National School Feeding Caterers Association, at a press conference held in September this year, called for a 50 per cent increment in the feeding grant of students under the programme.
The association explained that the amount allocated by the government for each student for every meal is woefully inadequate to satisfy the existing cost of goods and services amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting economic effects.
A policy research and advocacy civil society organisation, SEND-GHANA, analysing the 2022 budget and economic policy, has noted that the amount allocated for the School Feeding Programme is insufficient to guarantee healthy meals for beneficiary school children who require nutrition for their cognitive and physical development.
SEND GHANA has implored the government to increase the amount allocated for School Feeding by some 100% for the policy to achieve the required impact.
“We urge government to increase the amount to at least GH¢2 per child to ensure the programme attains its short-term objective of reducing hunger and malnutrition,” SEND Ghana stated in its report.
Despite its purpose of providing relief for children, especially those in deprived communities, the School Feeding Programme has over the years been fraught with various allegations of fraud by individuals and state institutions.
The Auditor General’s Office, in its 2021 report, disclosed that financial losses related to the School Feeding Programme had reached GHC 2 billion.