While the government works to ensure the release of funds for the payment of outstanding arrears, the Ghana School Feeding Secretariat is pleading with school feeding caterers to reconsider their decision to stop providing their services.
On Tuesday, April 4, some caterers who participate in the government’s school feeding program in the Ashanti Region went on strike in demand of arrears payment and an increase in the feeding grant.
The monies will soon be distributed, according to Alfa Siba, Chief of Public Affairs at the Ghana School Feeding Secretariat.
“We are engaging the relevant stakeholders and the caterers to see how best we can resolve the issue. Just last week, we paid the second term of the 2022 academic year to all the districts. So, we are appealing to the caterers to rescind their decision not to cook while we continue the engagements.”
Following the government’s failure to pay debts owed to them, the caterers threatened to stop working and made the choice to discontinue their services.
The caterers claim that the current amount is unsustainable due to the current situation of the economy and the high cost of food commodities, which is why they are also calling for an increase in the amount that the government pays every child daily from 97 pesewas to 3 Ghana cedis.
The headteachers of some schools in Kumasi stated that they do not anticipate receiving meals for the students as part of the government’s school feeding program since the caterers have told them that they are not cooking.
Many attempts were made, according to a few of the head teachers, to contact their schools’ caterers.
The caterers in their bid to get authorities to address their concerns petitioned the Ashanti Regional Minister on Monday, 3rd April 2023, but they however expressed dissatisfaction with his response to their concerns as they were ordered to leave.
