Food shortage has hit senior high schools across the country with the Upper West regional chapter of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) warning that students and parents may soon be compelled to take up the cost of feeding if government fails to provide supplies in six days.
In a letter to the Regional Director of the Ghana Education Service, CHASS noted that the food suppliers contacted by the Buffer Stock Company, as well as local suppliers contacted to help out are all refusing to do so, citing non-payment of outstanding monies owed them by the government.
This they say has exacerbated an already dire situation in schools in the region, with some schools not having enough supplies to last a week.
“In fact, an assessment of the situation indicated that most schools cannot go beyond one week if nothing urgent is done about it,” the statement said.
Food in short supply include maize, rice, sugar, palm oil and other oils, soya beans, sardine and mackerels, and Tombrown. They also bemoaned the manner in which monies meant to run the school trickle in.
CHASS has thus resolved that all schools will feed students with only what is available in the schools’ food stores and students will be asked to bring their own sugar and other items to the dining hall.
“If sufficient money and food is not received in the schools by Friday, 15th July, 2022, we will be compelled to tell parents and guardians to either feed their wards or come for them since it will be impossible to continue feeding them with nothing,” CHASS said.
Students writing the WASSCE will also be compelled to either feed themselves or come from home to write the exams.
Meanwhile, “all sporting and cultural activities at the school, District, Regional and National levels are hereby suspended with immediate effect until further notice since there is no money to carry out these activities. We also consider it a health hazard to compel students to partake in these activities on hungry stomachs fearing that they may collapse during the activities.”
“All workshops and other activities which involve the payment of money should be suspended since it is becoming impossible for schools to pay for these activities,” the statement added.
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