The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has assured Ghanaians that government has made adequate financial provisions to guarantee sufficient food supply for students in senior high schools across the country under the Free Senior High School programme.
According to the Minister, the government has undertaken a review of the implementation of the Free SHS policy and identified key challenges affecting the smooth running of the programme, particularly issues relating to food supply and student feeding.
He explained that measures have now been put in place to address those concerns to ensure uninterrupted academic activities in secondary schools.
Haruna Iddrisu gave the assurance during the commissioning of the National Teaching Council’s regional office complex in Tamale, where he reiterated the government’s commitment to sustaining and improving the flagship educational policy.
Speaking at the event, the minister acknowledged that food shortages had, in the past, created serious difficulties for some schools under the Free SHS programme, leading to disruptions in academic work and forcing students to return home before the completion of the school term.
However, he stressed that the government has now secured adequate resources to prevent such situations from recurring.
“Having examined the feeding of Free Senior High School students, we realised that there were many times that schools had to be closed down or, in the course of the academic year, students had to be asked to go home because there was inadequate food. That is now a thing of the past.”
The Education Minister stated that the government has strengthened financing arrangements for the programme through the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), which he said would ensure consistent support for the policy.
“There are adequate resources and adequate funding from GetFund to finance Free Senior High School.”
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