The President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has revealed that headteachers in Senior High Schools (SHS) are now resorting to barter trading.
The situation according to Angel Carbonu is due to the inadequate supply of essential food items to the various schools.
He disclosed this on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme stating the distribution of food by the National Buffer Stock is not helping the schools.
“We have centralised the distribution of food by Buffer Stock but they do not have the technical capacity to be in terms with the school population at every point in time.
“So sometimes they will bring the food items to the schools and you have one that is more than what they need. The headteacher will call another school where they may have a shortage then they will have take their trucks there to exchange,” he lamented.
In Mr Carbonu’s view, it will be more prudent for headteachers to be allowed to buy what they need at a particular time.
“The NPP is a government that is supposed to support decentralisation because it is a conservative, capitalist-oriented party but that is not the case. So once we have a bureaucratic system which creates loop holes, people take advantage,” he added.
The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) in October 2023 requested that the schools be given the opportunity to purchase their own food items.
The President of CHASS, Reverend Steven Owusu Sekyere at the 61st National Annual Conference, said they are suffering in the hands of suppliers due to debt owed them, hence their appeal.
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