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The National Co-ordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), Dr. Gertrude Quashigah, has denied claims that the programme has been put on hold.
The Caretaker of the Gender, Children and Social Protection Ministry, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, is reported to have told Parliament Wednesday that, the programme was halted until outstanding moneys owed caterers were paid.
However, in an interview with Angelonline.com.gh, the GSFP Coordinator said the programme will continue running in the over 10,000 public basic schools in the country, providing pupils with a hot meal on each school going day.
“Our enrollment of 3,448.065 still holds across the country,” said Dr. Quashigah, adding, “I’ts the expansion which is on hold..not the entire programme.”
It would be recalled that the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, had announced during the presentation of the 2022 budget in Parliament that enrolment onto the scheme would be increased to benefit four million pupils across the country.
Currently, however, the number of pupils signed onto the programme stands at 3,448,065 from over 10,832 public basic schools, having appreciated from 1.7 million in 2016/2017.
Meanwhile, the refrain from extending the programme to the non-beneficiary public schools means that those schools would continue experience high levels of truancy and increasing drop outs.
This is so because, according to information gathered following implementation of the programme in various beneficiary schools, attendance to classes and enrolments have steadily improved.
