Eastern Region: We're considering closing down SHS over food shortage – CHASS

A statement issued by the Eastern Regional branch of CHASS stated that there has been a food shortage over the past two years and struggles with a reduced weight of supplied food items.

It said: "Suppliers of food items for some time now have been supplying underweight items to the schools. An example is 100 kg of Maize has been reduced to 50 kg or 60 kg."

It further revealed there have been arrears in schools due to the erratic release of funds.

"Since 2021, funds meant for recurrent [expenses], have been released once. By extension, recurrent funds are in arrears since 2021 and 6 months into 2022," the statement noted.

It added considering "recommending to GES Management to as a matter of urgency get in touch with Parents to either feed their wards or pick them home until all the situation is normalised."

The shortage of food is a result of the poor food supply situation in the schools which is reported to have reached dire and deteriorated levels.

The schools affected are Accra Academy, Cape Coast in the Central Region, Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Bolgatanga, Upper East, and Ho in the Volta Region where students are fed up with a repeated menu.

The schools affected by food shortage in the Central Region include Mfantsipim School, St. Augustine's College, Adisadel College, and Ghana National College.

Some parents have raised concerns over the quality of food served to their wards in the affected schools.

The Chairman of Mfantstpim School Parents Teacher Association, Monister Kwarteng, in an SOS audio message to parents described the situation as terrible.

He said the students are given porridge without milk, sugar, and bread adding that "Dear parents, these are our boys, and as a parents association, we have less than GH¢1,000 in our coffers. What can this do?"

A student of Mfantsipim School said: "The porridge is too light and without bread and so in the morning I don't go to the dining hall."

Another student said: "Sometimes the quantity is small."

The headmaster of the school Rev. Ebener Aidoo said the food situation was dire, but the school was working around the clock to address the situation.

The Headmaster of St Augustine's, Henry Arthur-Gyan, also said the school had no option but to manage the situation.

"We know there are challenges and so we manage with what we are provided. There is not much we can do about it," he stated.

On the part of Ashanti Regional Chairman of the conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Rev. Fr Stephen Owusu Sekyere, most schools in the region were facing an inadequate supply of food items, with the major challenge being vegetables, palm oil, sugar, and flour.

Rev. Fr Sekyere, who doubles as the Headmaster of the Opoku Ware School (OWASS), said at times "students come to the dining hall with their own sugar. But we have been managing with the little we have and when it gets finished, we wait for the supplier."

"Because I don’t want the students to demonstrate during my tenure, at times I have to dig into my pocket to buy some of the items from the open market just to ensure that the students are okay," he said.

He said at times when the supply came, "we get about five gallons of oil, which do not last two weeks for a student population of over 3,000."

"This is even for schools in the metropolis; you can imagine what those in the hinterlands are going through," he added.