Acting spokesperson for President John Dramani Mahama, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has given assurances that the government will implement effective measures to address the challenges related to feeding under the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme.

This commitment comes after the government released GHS200 million about two weeks ago to tackle the existing shortfalls.

In an interview on Channel One Newsroom on Sunday, January 2, Ofosu criticized the previous administration for poor planning and execution of the policy, which he said resulted in schools reopening without sufficient food supplies.

“Beyond that GHS200 million was released about a week ago or a week and a half ago to address the shortfalls in feeding. Again, because of poor planning and poor implementation of the education policy, we had a situation where schools were going to be opened and yet there was no food available to feed the students,” he stated.

Ofosu pointed out that despite appeals from education stakeholders, especially headmasters, to postpone the reopening of schools, the government declined their request. This decision, he noted, led to schools resuming without adequate food supplies.

“So upon taking office, President Mahama took decisive action and within a few days, he ordered that food be evacuated to the schools. In addition to that, GHS200 million was released to the various schools through the Ghana Education Service to procure food for the students,” Kwakye Ofosu added.

Kwakye Ofosu assured that going forward, adequate measures will be put in place to ensure that there is enough food to feed the students.

“So for now, that has been done and going forward, adequate measures will be put in place to ensure that we have enough food to feed the students,” he noted.