Parents and guardians of beneficiaries of the Free Senior High School(SHS) policy are proposing solutions to address the problem of food shortages in the various schools.
This follows the release of the latest JoyNews Hotline Documentary, titled ‘Empty Plates: The Free SHS Promise,’ by investigative journalist Kwetey Nartey, which confirmed an acute shortage of food items in many SHSs across the country.
Following the documentary, awareness has been raised regarding the type of meals students are served for breakfast, lunch, and supper.
This has sparked a lot of concern among educationalists, stakeholders, and parents, who have been discussing measures to improve the quality of meals in the schools.
During a phone-in session on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, March 25, callers suggested measures to improve meals in these schools.
According to a caller, one of the biggest problems with the school feeding programme is the centralised system for distributing food.
He explained that depending on Buffer Stock for the supply of foodstuff created significant pressure and sometimes led to delays in distribution.
“We have to deal with that. Let every school find their own supplier and then if you’ll give them the money to pay the suppliers that will solve the problem. If it is not adequate, as parents, we are ready to also support…We have to do everything right to make it work,” he said.
Another caller also stated that until the government acknowledges the challenges the policy faces, it would be difficult to find solutions.
He claimed that some politicians were reluctant to address the challenges because their children do not attend public schools.
“Most of these politicians, their children are not attending this free SHS. They should come out and prove to us that their children are there. Even if they are there, they are sending their body guards and aides to take food to them, so they should spare us. It’s so bad,” he said.
Another parent said the government should do a better job by monitoring the individuals in charge of distributing the food.
The parents also suggested that the government should increase funding for the school feeding programme.
“It’s not everything that should be done on a credit basis. So if they don’t have the food, they should go to the open market, get quality food for our wards. Very soon, these children are also going to vote and reward the government,”he added.
However, another caller suggested that the government provides food for those who are from low-income families instead of providing for all students.
“Let’s exempt the rich kids from it. I’m trying to say, let the rich parents take care of their wards needs in the boarding house and the poor ones should be fed by the government.”
“Again, we should have farms in all the schools where we can plant certain foods that will be needed in the schools. Thirdly, we should include the private schools that are not in it [Free SHS] right now so that accommodation wise, we wouldn’t see students sleeping on the floor or having students learning in the classroom where they will be sitting on blocks and using their chop boxes and trunks as tables to write on,” he said.
ALSO READ: