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According to him, the decision of the President to provide one hot meal for students is not a prudent use of the country's resources.
In his 15th national address on measures being taken against the spread of COVID-19 on Sunday night, August 16, 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said he has received reports that the students and their staff were going hungry in complying with the COVID-19 safety protocols.
"As a result of reports I have recently received that some final year JHS students were going hungry, in complying with COVID-19 protocols, I have just instructed the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection to begin preparations to ensure that from 24th August up to 18th September all 584,000 final JHS students and 146,000 staff both in public and private schools be given one hot meal a day. This is to ensure full observance of the COVID-19 safety protocols," he said.
The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch reacting to the President said Nana Addo appears to be using the move as a political tool than responding to a genuine need.
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In an interview on Accra-based Starr FM, Asare said "No one has told us that they are hungry; nobody has complained. We have been around the country, nobody has complained, I think we are political season this is tokenism. We are not being prudent, we are not prioritizing our expenditure. If the students were hungry, they would have been dead by now because they've been in school for 1 month.
"Feeding JHS and SHS students are not in line with education. As I said, it’s tokenism. It’s not true that foods are not being sold around schools and students are hungry."