Today�s newspaper investigations have revealed that the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) is facing numerous challenges in the Nkwanta District of the Volta Region despite the fact that it has been operated for many years.
A recent visit to Otoli Junction D/A Primary and Obitiyie D/L Primary Schools in the Nkwanta Districts (North and South North) revealed that poor sanitation, low quality food and delay in the payment of salaries to caterers were some of the challenges confronting the Programme.
In the Otoli Junction D/A Primary School, "Today" discovered, the place where the caterers prepare the food for the pupils was nothing to write home about.
It is dilapidated shed-like structure made of clay and thatch-roof, and is partially submerged by running flood waters during the rainy season.
The caterers complained bitterly about the structure, adding that they become particularly disturbed during the raining season.
�Due to the bad state of the kitchen, the pupils usually take their lunch very late whenever it rains in the morning.�
"Today" further established that the caterers have not been paid their salaries for several months, and they appealed to the GSFP authorities to tackle their salary issues with a sense of urgency.
One of them lamented thus: �We basically� receive our salaries at the end of the term�, that is, every three months.�
Another, however, added that: �Even at the end of the term, we have to struggle with the authorities before we could receive one month pay instead of the three months pay.�
When that happens the remaining two-months salary is never paid to us, never, a third worried caterer disclosed.
�We are just like other workers in the country, so why then should we work for a full three months only to receive one-month salary?�, one queried for all of them. They thus called on the school feeding programme authorities to address their concerns before the worst happens.
The Headmaster of Otoli D/A school, Mr. Chattel Francis, disclosed that the School Feeding Programme has helped raise enrolment, but the facilities can no longer cope. We need new classroom blocks and a properly-constructed kitchen, he said.
He called on the national secretariat of the School Feeding Programme to address the problems to ensure efficiency.
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