Bolgatanga, Nov. 28, - Some Heads
of Second Cycle Schools in the Upper East Region have claimed that they are
compelled to use food stocked for continuing students to feed first year
students because suppliers contracted by government to supply food to the
schools have failed to deliver.
They said the feeding grants of
continuing students are used to feed the 2017/2018 academic year students who
are non-fee paying and this has placed many schools under financial stress.
The Free Senior High School policy
is a government flagship programme which has been implemented to ease the
financial burden parents endure in paying school fees of their wards.
The policy includes the provision
of feeding grants, textbooks, and other learning materials to all public Senior
High Schools to enhance effective teaching and learning and improve quality of
education.
Speaking to some of the Head
teachers in the region, they said many of the things have not been provided as
stated in the policy, especially with regards to food for the newly admitted
students.
Mr Thomas Amare, the Principal of
the Bolgatanga Technical Institute (BOTECH), told the Ghana News Agency that
the Buffer Stock Company, which has been contracted to provide the various
schools with the food has not lived up to expectation.
He said "this year we
increased our admission number by only ten students making it 825 and that was
the number we gave for the placement. The feeding debt keeps on increasing
because there are still arrears that government has not settled.
This has compelled us to use the
continuing students feeding grants to feed the first years students as
well."
Mrs Rosemond Avosige,
Headmistress of the Bolgatanga Girls Senior High School (BOGISS), who said the
issue was a hindrance to effective academic work, added that "what is heard from the other schools are the same
problems we facing here and our grievances have been directed to the Regional
Director of Education and we are hoping that something will be done soon."
At the Bolgatanga Senior High
School (BIG BOSS), Mr Vitus Angkyire, Assitant Headmaster in charge of
Administration, told the GNA that even though the school admitted less number
of students this academic year as compared to last year, they faced many
setbacks in feeding the students due to the delay in the release of food for
the first year students.
"Due to the Free SHS we are
not required to receive anything from the first year students as feeding fee
and the food has not been coming. We have resorted to our traditional provider
to feed both the continuous and fresh students," he said.
He urged government to equip the
Buffer Stock Company with the necessary resources to release the food meant for
the Free SHS students to augment the existing feeding.
He appealed to Non-Governmental
Organizations and philanthropists to assist the school to ensure that quality
education was achieved.
GNA
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