A deputy Education Minister, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour has refuted claims of a widespread food crisis in Senior High Schools across the country.

He said a nationwide tour by all ministers at the Ministry to assess the situation shows that there is stable food supply for the entire second-cycle population.

There have been reports of shortage of either non-perishable foods, which are supplied by the National Food Buffer Stock Company, or perishable food items, which the schools purchase with funds from the state.

Some students and parents have also suggested that the dining hall menus in some schools were unsatisfactory.

But speaking on Face to Face on Citi TV, Rev. Fordjour indicated that not even a single SHS can be said to be without food for its students and that the reports about the shortage are utterly unfair to education authorities.

“We have to be circumspect with the reportage that is coming. There is not a single school that we visited that is experiencing food challenges. To be specific, there are 702 public schools catering to almost 1.2 million students. By our monitoring system, there was no food crisis.”

Concerns about the shortage of food have come from parents, former students and some teachers.

The Ghana National Association of Teachers, for example, raised an alarm and gave the government an ultimatum to address the issue.

But since then, the government and regulators have come out to downplay the reports.
The Ministry of Education denied the shortage, saying its checks had shown schools had enough food.

The Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education, Kwasi Kwarteng, said to Citi News that he “was even with the PRO of GES when she called a headteacher of one of the schools who confirmed that it is not true. The situation according to our checks is not entirely as is being painted.”

The Ghana Education Service has also said it has begun investigations into the reports of food shortage.

Director-General of GES, Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa also said he felt the reports were exaggerated.

“As far as our records go, there is nothing like that. We have officially not received complaints from any of the schools over the issue,” he said.