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The Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Education Committee, Dr. Clement Apaak, has condemned the Akufo-Addo government for the “poor food” it feeds students of the various basic schools across the country.

He said using 97 pesewas to feed each student under the School Feeding Programme was not the best and needed to be adjusted upward.

“How can you be feeding the future leaders of this nation this way?…Even the cat at the president’s house, can you feed them with 97 pesewas?” he fumed.

The Academic who is also the MP for Builsa South Constituency in the Upper East Region said the government ought to feed the students well since it had received funds to that effect.

SHS Food Shortages

Apaak’s concerns was in reaction to the food shortage in Senior High Schools across the country, which he said could have been avoided if the government meant well.

Government has not been able to supply food for most of the Senior High Schools for sometime now– a situation which has forced students to feed on the little they have.

In barely 24 hours, Heads of second-cycle schools in the Eastern Region are likely to push for a shutdown over the lack the food in the schools.

While other schools are anxiously waiting for food from suppliers for days and contemplating a shutdown in the Ashanti Region, the schools in the Upper West Region are yet to receive the food items promised by the Ministry of Education.

Dr Apaak, who said on Gumbe Show on TV XYZ that he has witnessed the terrible situation in some schools, also lambasted the Akufo-Addo government for the hunger among students in the hundreds of schools across the country.

He said GHS0.97 the government has allocated to each pupil per day was cruel and insufficient.

“Is what they are eating not poison? what’s the quality? what’s the quantity?” the Legislator quizzed.

He commended the parents and teachers who have come out to raise concerns about the food shortage in the second-cycle institutions across the country.

“Parents and the headmasters, as you have started speaking, don’t go back to sleep,” he stated and indicated that parliament had approved about 2.3 billion cedis to fund the flagship programme.

“The money must be put to work and let the students eat well,” he lamented.

Calls For Review of Free SHS

Meanwhile, Educationist, Prof Ivan Addae Mensah has urged the government to urgently decentralize food supply to schools.

“People always talk of the possibility of heads being corrupted. Of course there may be a few cases but the majority of heads are very honest. They care about the school children,” he said in an interview with Joy News.

In his view, if the Free Senior High School programme is not reviewed to allow some parents pay fees, the situation will only get worse.