The Conference of Heads of Assisted Senior High Schools (CHASS) has called on parents and guardians to provide food for their wards amid severe food shortages in senior high schools across the country.CHASS had earlier appealed to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to reconsider the reopening of schools due to unresolved financial issues, including the government's failure to pay for perishable foods supplied for students last year.

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However, the GES rejected this appeal.Five days after the schools reopened, CHASS National Secretary Primus Baro, speaking on JoyNews' Newsdesk on Wednesday, January 8, described the situation as critical, with many schools forced to ration food."I encourage parents, and I have already advised my PTA to this effect, to let their children bring food like gari, shitor, and sugar to supplement whatever the school provides.

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I urge parents across the country, as the food situation has still not improved in the past two and three years, and it has worsened at this particular time," he said.Mr. Baro further disclosed that the situation is especially dire in northern Ghana."Food supplies are not reaching the schools. In places like Upper West, Upper East, and the Northern regions, apart from rice, the schools have no stable food supplies. Oil is completely unavailable.

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For example, in my school, I currently don't have a single drop of oil, so my matron has been using margarine to replace oil for cooking. I don't have maize or beans—only rice and some gari," he added.He emphasized that the situation had forced many schools to revert to older practices of students bringing food from home to ensure they could continue receiving meals at school.

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"We are still relying on the old practices of sending students with what they have, and that’s the only reason we allowed the students to return. Otherwise, the situation is still far from ideal," he stressed.

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The Free Senior High School (SHS) programme, introduced by the previous Nana Akufo-Addo-led government, has faced persistent challenges, including inadequate food supplies, limited classroom and dormitory facilities, and concerns over the quality of education.

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However, President John Mahama, before winning the 2024 elections, pledged to revitalise the programme rather than abolish it, promising to address the longstanding challenges facing SHSs in the country.

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