The government is being urged to eschew arrogance and collaborate with the relevant stakeholders to address the challenges of the Free SHS programme.
“Government should take steps for effective collaboration with stakeholders in education to address the issue. Government must eschew arrogance and vindictive posturing and collaborate with relevant stakeholders including the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Parents, Old students’ Associations, farmers, food suppliers and Civil Society Organizations to establish a sustainable and reliable food supply chain for our schools.”
These sentiments were contained in a statement by the Upper East Regional Democratic Congress Communication Officer, Jonathan Abdallah Salifu, and copied to this website.
Mr. Abdallah also called on the government to fix the feeding challenges to help address the nutritional concerns of the students.
“Adhere to nutritional standards in schools. There should be strict adherence to the
nutritional standards in menu planning, ensuring that students receive meals that meet
their dietary requirements for proper growth and development.”
The statement also reminded the government of the need to commit to increasing funding for schools.
“Increase funding for the education sector. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Education 2030 Framework for Action require that countries allocate at least 4% to 6% of GDP to education. However, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has fallen short of this requirement. Unlike former president Mahama’s achievement of 4.6% in 2013, 4.7% in 2014, 4.6% in 2015, and 4.5% in 2016, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government recorded 3.6% in 2017, 4.0% in 2018, 3.3% in 2020, and an abysmal 3.0% in 2021. Again, this government, for the first time in 20 years, reduced the percentage of the national budget for education under the medium-term budget and expenditure framework (2023-2025) to 12.9% in 2023. A further reduction of 11.1% is expected in 2025, which is below the UNESCO minimum benchmark of 15%. Clearly, this government must increase funding for the education sector.”
Read full statement here: THE NDC- UPPER EAST REGION DEMANDS IMMEDIATE ACTION FROM GOVERNMENT TO ADDRESS FOOD SHORTAGE IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE REGION.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
