The Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum says, the management and students of the Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High School (PRESEC) in Legon have proved to the contrary reports that the school was among the high schools allegedly facing food shortage.
In a post on Facebook, Dr. Adutwum who paid a surprise visit to the school said ,“The students and the headmaster denied claims making rounds in some section of the media that Presec was experiencing food shortages,”.
“It was a pleasant surprise visit and I had a wonderful time at one of the finest Senior High Schools in the country”, he added.
There have been reports of shortages of particularly non-perishable foods, which are supplied by the National Food Buffer Stock Company, and perishable food items, which the schools purchase with state funds.
The Ghana National Association of Teachers, had on Tuesday August 30, tasked the government to treat concerns about food shortages in some Senior High Schools as an emergency, asserting the recent agitations from the union are only in the interest of students.
“When we bring these things up, it is not to bring somebody down, but it is to bring to the attention of the duty bearers that the conditions under which our children are learning in our SHSs and our basic schools are not the best.”
But since then, the government and regulators have come out to downplay the reports.
In response, the Ministry of Education denied the shortage saying its checks had shown schools had enough food.
The Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education, Kwasi Kwarteng, in an interview on, Accra-based Citifm disclosed, he “was even with the PRO of GES when she called a headteacher of one of the schools who confirmed that it is not true. The situation according to our checks is not entirely as is being painted.”
The Ghana Education Service(GES), has also said it has begun investigations into reports of food shortage in some Senior High Schools across the country.
Director-General of GES, Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, also insisted that GES has not received complaints of food shortage from any of the schools.
“As far as our records go, there is nothing like that. We have officially not received complaints from any of the schools over the issue. We have heard the issues that people are raising. As for the quality of food, it’s something that we can have a discussion on. But with the shortage of food, our checks indicate otherwise.”
See his full post below:
