A GNA feature by Philip Tengzu
Wa (UW/R), Nov. 22, GNA – Ernest Dery, (Not real name), a 13-year-old boy at Gbare, a farming community in the Jirapa Municipality of the Upper West Region dropped out of school at Basic Two a few years ago.
This was because he used to go to school on an empty stomach due to his parents’ inability to provide feeding for him to be in school each day.
According to him, the school too was not providing food, so he decided to drop out of school due to his inability to endure hunger while learning.
“I used not to eat before going to school and at the school too they were not cooking for us and I felt it would be better for me to stop schooling, maybe at home I would get something to eat,” he explained.
However, when the school started providing hot meals for the pupils every day in October this year, Dery Ernest decided to voluntarily go back to school to continue with his studies; he is now in Basic Four.
He said: “Now that, they are cooking for us in the school I go to every day. I am now comfortable and can concentrate in class.”
Just like Ernest Dery, Francis Bayor, an 11-year-old boy currently in Basic Three at the Gbare M/A Basic school, also returned to school after feeding the children began in October 2024.
Bayor said he had dropped out of school because his parents could not provide for him and the school too was not cooking for them, adding, “I couldn’t endure the hunger while in school.”
Situation
The situation is not peculiar to only Ernest Dery and Francis Bayor. Many young people and children in rural and deprived communities in the Jirapa Municipality and the Upper West Region as a whole suffer a similar fate.
The Ghana News Agency (GNA) gathered that while enrolment and retention had increased in schools where meals are provided for the learners, there was an increased rate of dropouts in schools where meals are not provided.
For instance, data from the Zooh M/A Primary School in the Jirapa Municipality indicates a sharp reduction in the learners’ population from 163 at the end of the last academic year to 132 as at October 2024, representing about 23 per cent decrease.
This is because the school stopped providing meals for the pupils as of September this year when school resumed.
In sharp contrast, the learners’ population at the Gbare M/A Primary School also in the Jirapa Municipality has increased from 286 in the last academic year to 298 learners in this academic year, following the provision of hot meals for the leaners.
Also, checks at the Gbare M/A primary school indicated that there were 32 learners in basic one as of October 2023 and 43 in basic two (those who were in basic one in October 2023) as of October 2024, representing about 34 per cent increase.
The GSFP
The hot meals are being prepared for the leaners are as a result of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) initiated by the government through the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to contribute towards holistic development of Ghanaian children especially those in rural and deprived areas.
Initiated in 2005, it seeks to enhance food security and reduce hunger in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on hunger, poverty and malnutrition while providing children in public primary schools with one hot nutritious meal on every school going day, prepared from locally grown foodstuffs.
The overall objective is to contribute to increasing school enrolment, attendance and retention, and reducing short-term hunger and malnutrition amongst kindergarten and primary school children.
GSFP Impact on enrollment
The data from the two schools represented the stark reality of children of school going age in rural and deprived communities in Ghana abandoning school.
Though several reasons might have accounted for that, the significant influence of the GSFP could not be downplayed.
Analysis of the data from the two schools showed that children’s enrollment in those schools increased at the time that they had a hot meal daily at school and dwindled when food was not prepared for the children at those schools.
In an interview with the GNA, Madam Vivian Mwireh, the Headmistress of the Gbare M/A primary school explained that aside from the official data of the children on the register, there were also “guest” learners in the school due to the resumption of feeding at the school.
“As we speak now, we have some guest children in some of the classes. Their parents haven’t come to register them formally but because of the food they come and join their colleagues in the classrooms and after eating the food, if they are satisfied then they stay for the rest of the day otherwise they run back home and return the following day” she explained.
At the Zooh Primary School, Mr. Evans Kanyikyekuba, the Headmaster of the school, told the GNA that some of the children abandoned the school and returned anytime they wanted partly due to the stoppage of feeding at the school.
Madam Jenifer Pingnaa, a parent at the Zooh community, stated that some children at the community refused to go to school because of the lack of school feeding.
She said her son of about 8 years went to school, hoping to get food there but ended up staying throughout the school with hunger, which sometimes discouraged him from going.
According to Mr. Huudu Kunaateh, the Jirapa Municipal Director of Education, their assessment of the programme showed that in a school where there is feeding, enrollment swelled up whereas there is a high rate of absenteeism in schools where there is no feeding.
“You wouldn’t get to a school where there is school feeding and the classes are empty, they (the children) rush to school early in the morning and about 90 per cent of them stay in the school up to closing.
But then, those schools that don’t have the programme that’s where we have serious problem because enrollment dwindles and it’s bad”, he explained.
Significance of GSFP
Many children in rural communities in Ghana and for that matter, the Upper West Region, were enticed to enroll in school at an early age by the food prepared for children at school.
Recognising this need, some communities contributed food stuff to feed their wards at school in an attempt to retain and gradually develop their interest in attending school even without the feeding at school.
One such community was Nyore in the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa District in the region where parents contribute their meagre resources to provide a hot meal for their children at school.
Challenges
Mr. Salifu Issifu Kanton, the Executive Director of the Community Development Alliance (CDA), pointed out that the GSFP also ensured concentration of the child in class, contributing to improved learning outcomes of the Ghanaian child, aside from the enrollment and retention.
He observed that though successive governments had made significant efforts to sustain the GSFP, it is still fraud with significant challenges.
He mentioned politicisation of the programme, irregular cooking and poor quality of the meals as some of the challenges.
Mr. Kanton said his monitoring of the programme in the region revealed that the District Assemblies and the District Education Directorates are sometimes oblivious of payments made and that makes it difficult for them to hold the caterers accountable.
“When the caterers say they are not cooking because of non-payment, the district assemblies are not in a good position to determine whether those claims are true or false”, he explained.
Sustainable funding
To ensure the GSFP served its intended purpose, Mr. Kanton said there is a need for a dedicated source of funding for the programme and to ensure the funds are released promptly.
According to him, the current system of budgetary allocations for the programme is not helping due to irregular disbursement of funds.
He suggested the imposition of tax on some commodities such as cigarette and alcoholic beverages, and proceeds from those taxes set aside for funding the school feeding programme.
SDGs/ Way forward
The GSFP aligns with Goal 4 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) sought to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”
Target 4.1 of that goal required that: “By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.”
However, to achieve this there is the need for the government to take steps to strengthen the GSFP to ensure it lived its expectations to contribute to the country’s development drive.
Also, there is the need for Parliament to pass the Social Protection Bill into law to give the GSFP legal backing, hold the government accountable, and ensure a stricter monitoring regime for the caterers and its proper management.
GNA