4 million pupils to go without food next week

A Communications Officer at the Ghana School Feeding (GSFP), Edmund Gyebi, has announced that about four million beneficiary pupils of the programme would go without food next week.

According to the PRO, given the number of pupils involved nationwide and the cost intensive nature of the catering service, it would be difficult to ask caterers to extend their services by a week.

He argued that the beneficiary pupils are numbering close to four million and the cost of providing catering services for them for an additional week would be above 17 million cedis.

His comments follow a Ghana Education Service’s (GES) extension of the academic calendar of the 3rd term to December 17, instead of the previously communicated Friday, December 10, 2021 closing date.

In a December 8, statement, management of the programme announced that despite the GES extension, the GSFP has informed its caterers that preparation and provision of meals to students would not go beyond December 10

According to the Communications Officer, Edmund Gyebi, management of the School Feeding Programme cannot be held responsible for failing to carry out their mandate from December 13, to December 17, 2021.

Mr. Gyebi, speaking in an interview on Angel FM’s Anopa Bofoↄ breakfast show, stated that it will be worrisome to ask caterers to keep on providing meals for the additional week.

He added that though it is their wish to provide students with nutritious meals daily however, most of the caterers pre-finance their activities and may not be financially sound to do same next week.

The money is not from government, they budget their shopping for the term and now that the term is nearly ended where would they get the money from to prepare meals for the students, he questioned in the Twi parlance.

Responding to a question from the host, Mr. Gyebi stated that their inability to provide free meals next week has got nothing to do with food shortage.

He, therefore, suggested that philanthropists and the general public should come to the aid of the students since the GSFP cannot render any help beyond their Friday, December 10, 2021 deadline.

Management in their earlier statement also cautioned caterers that they would not be responsible for any meals provided by caterers to beneficiaries after their given deadline