Problems And Prospects of Ghana School Feeding Programme

THE EXECUTIVE Chairman for the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), Dr. Kwame Amoaku Tuffuor, has stated that lack of legislation in addition to political interference, is seriously hampering the smooth running of the programme.

According to him, having realized the importance of the programme, which was supported by all the political parties, it would be necessary that a fund is not only set up by the government to sustain it, just as it was made to sustain the GETFund, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Bulk Oil Storage Transport (BOST) and others but also concerted efforts should be made to debar political interference in the programme.

Advocating for a law to be passed by Parliament to help raise money to sustain the GSFP, he said, "Having seen the importance of this policy and its stimulation of the economy, thus bottom-up and bottom-down, it becomes obvious that it must be sustained just like the way GETFund, BOST and NHIS were supported through some taxes."

"Ghana School Feeding Programme, probably being the most sensitive and important, should be supported by a portion of the national tax because the programme falls within," he disclosed in an interview with this paper.

Dr. Amoaku Tufuor, in an interaction with this paper on a wide range of issues including the prospects, challenges and achievements of the government's policy on the School Feeding Programme among others, averred that the funding should be borne by the ruling government.

As to how the fund could be set up, he said, "a trust fund for the school feeding can be set up where corporate bodies, philanthropists and individuals can contribute to the fund through central government."

He also advocated the need to establish a national food security network with structures, which he said, would buy surplus food, stock it and later supply it to the schools for the children's upkeep.

The Executive Chairman underscored that, as his outfit is geared towards purchasing of locally manufactured rice, they are faced with the 'common jargon' that locally produced rice was more expensive than others. "We are making sure that they are reasonably priced and will be more competitive. The level of production and economic growth of this country would enhance development and we are doing all that we can to make sure that local products are patronized."

To him, by the policy of the government, the GSFP was encouraging all rice, millet and maize growers in the Volta, Northern and other Regions to continue to produce, whilst the GSFP would market the produce for them.

Touching on the success story of the GSFP, Dr. Amoaku Tuffuor said, the programme has not only created massive enrolment and good health to the children but created over 500, 000 jobs.

He said it has also created market and industrial growth in the country where locally produced products are purchased by the coordinators to feed the children.

Dr. Amoaku Tuffuor told this paper that in spite of bringing the truant students back to the classrooms to continue with their education, the operators of the GSFP have been seen as the best in Africa just after 11 months of inception.

To this end, he said the Executive Chairman of Ghana's School Feeding Programme, has been chosen as the first President of Africa Network of School Feeding Programmes and has been invited by other international organizations to tell them about Ghana's success story.

Asked about the need for the GSFP, he said, it creates a healthy situation and lets the children grow to become future leaders.

"It is creating markets for the locally produced rice and other products. It is helping the children to get basic education especially the needy and above all it helps bring the truants back to the classrooms."

Dr. Amoaku Tuffuor, however, slammed bureaucrats at the ministries tasked to help in the sustainability of the programme.

Link to allAfrica.com: Ghana: Problems And Prospects of Ghana School Feeding Programme (Page 1 of 1)

GOV`T TO SET UP NATIONAL TEACHING COUNCIL

THE CHIEF Director of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, Mr. Ato Essuman, has called for an educational reform that would enable the nation to keep pace with drastic economic changes in the world.

He said the current educational system, which graduates large numbers of students who were unable to proceed to higher institutions or without sufficient skills to enter the job market, was a threat to the manpower development of the country.

Mr. Essuman, who is also a Member of the Council of State, said this at the 15th Anniversary and Third Speech and Prize-Giving Day of the Koforidua Secondary School on Saturday.

He said the current educational system that ends at 15 years of age for over 60 percent of the school going population was clearly failing the citizens of the country.

“Our education should lead us to the acquisition of knowledge which will be able to transform us to offer service to mankind; education that results in the development of responsible, disciplined and a national oriented citizenry” Mr. Essuman said the government was taking measures prior to the reforms to address the concerns of teachers by making provisions to upgrade teacher education and provide distance-training courses for non-professional teachers.

He said a national teaching council to regulate the teaching profession and to give a powerful voice to teachers is about to be established.

The Executive Director of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Dr. Kwame Amoako-Tuffuor, said the programme, apart from its basic function of eradicating malnutrition in schoolchildren, was also improving the economic well-being of farmers.

He said all foods prepared for the selected schools used locally produced food items to sustain the market of the local farmers.

He said for instance, farmers in the northern parts of the country had been engaged to produce soya beans on a large scale to be used for feeding the children.

The Headmistress of the school, Mrs. Matilda Appiah, said the school, which existed, as Nsukwao L.A Primary became a senior secondary school in 1991 as a result of the 1987 educational reforms in which many JSS were upgraded to SSS.

She said the school, despite its short existence, had proved its worth in many fields of academic disciplines in the Region by scoring 99 percent pass in the 2006 SSCE and coming second in STME quiz for schools in the Eastern Region.

Mrs. Appiah said parents in the municipality hitherto shunned the idea of enrolling their wards in the school due to the negative perception that it was a community school and suggested renaming the school to make it distinct and appealing in the municipality.

She appealed for more classrooms and more infrastructure since the current infrastructure of the school was not commensurate with the over 1,000-student population.

Mrs. Appiah expressed gratitude to the New Juaben Traditional Council for its support for the development of the school over the years.

The Omanhene of the New Juaben Traditional Area, Daasebre Oti Boateng, said the school feeding programme was appropriate in improving the human resource base of the country.

Thirty-six students and four members of staff who had distinguished themselves in the school for the past years were rewarded. - GNA

Link to Ghanaian Chronicle - Online : The current time is 12:14:45 PM on 2/23/2007