Mrs. Gertrude Quarshigah, the National Coordinator of Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) has said a total of 2,244 people, mostly caterers and cooks, were employed by the program since 2017, representing an increase of 60 percent.
She said 1,365 were engaged under the NDC administration and said beneficiary schools currently stood at 258,583 from 120,029 when the New Patriotic Party-led government took office in 2017.
She commended the President for the special initiative, especially for the intervention of provision of hot meals to JHS finalists and their teachers countrywide and revealed that the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) has paid GH¢ 280 million arrears of caterers and cooks engaged by the scheme.
The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) is an initiative of the comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Pillar 3 which seeks to enhance food security and reduce hunger in line with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (MDGs) on hunger, poverty, and malnutrition.
The immediate objectives are to reduce hunger and malnutrition, increase school enrolment, attendance, and retention, and boost domestic food production in deprived communities of the country. The Development objective is to reduce poverty and enhance food security.
The basic concept of the program is to provide children in public primary schools with one hot nutritious meal, prepared from locally grown foodstuffs, on every school-going day. The aim is to spend 80% of the feeding cost on the local economy.
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP): is the oversight Ministry for the GSFP.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Kofi Atakora
