CHASS urges parents to supplement student meals amid severe food shortages in senior high schools, highlighting systemic challenges in the Free SHS program.
The Conference of Heads of Assisted Senior High Schools (CHASS) has called on parents and guardians to supplement the food provisions of their wards as senior high schools across the country battle with severe feeding challenges.
The National Secretary of CHASS, Primus Baro, disclosed that many schools are rationing food due to a critical shortage of supplies, leaving students vulnerable to inadequate meals.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) rejected an earlier appeal by CHASS to reconsider reopening schools amidst unresolved financial constraints, including outstanding payments for perishable food items supplied last year.
Speaking in a radio interview, Mr. Baro revealed the dire state of affairs, particularly in northern Ghana, where schools are almost entirely out of essential supplies like maize, beans, and cooking oil. “In some schools, margarine is being used as a substitute for cooking oil.
For example, in my school, we currently don’t have a single drop of oil, nor do we have maize or beans only rice and some gari,” he lamented. He, therefore, urged parents to send their children to school with food items such as gari, shitor, and sugar to help alleviate the burden.
The food crisis is more pronounced in the Upper West, Upper East, and Northern regions, where supply chains have completely stalled.
According to Mr. Baro, CHASS reluctantly allowed students to return to school under the old practice of bringing supplementary provisions from home. “This is not an ideal situation, but we are left with no choice. The food situation has worsened over the past two to three years, and the government has yet to address these challenges,” he stated.
This latest development spotlights ongoing struggles under the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme, an initiative introduced by the Nana Akufo-Addo led administration.
While the programme has notably increased enrollment, critics argue that it has done little to improve the quality of education or address logistical concerns such as inadequate infrastructure and inconsistent food supply.
