Brouhaha over feeding fees
The recently announced feeding fee for senior high school (SHS) students has generated a controversy between the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) and the Ministry of Education.
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While CHASS says the GH¢3.30 daily feeding fee will affect the quality and quantity of food given the students, the ministry insists that CHASS was part of the deliberations that endorsed the new feeding fee.
The GH¢3.30 feeding fee means that breakfast, lunch and supper will each cost GH¢1.10.
The new feeding is an increment of 50 per cent in the GH¢2.20 the government approved for the 2012/2013 academic year.
“We are trying our best to give students nutritious meals, but whether it is enough is another issue,” the National President of CHASS, Mr Samuel Ofori-Adjei, told the Daily Graphic in an interview.
According to him, various schools in the various regions had applied for different fees, given that the cost of living differs from region to region.
He said members of the conference asked for a fee between GH¢4 and a little over GH¢5, but the Education Ministry approved GH¢3.30.
He said the highest amount came from the Central Region, where the schools demanded a little over GH¢5, and the lowest from Brong Ahafo, where they asked for GH¢4.
“We are supposed to feed them a balanced diet which includes an egg a day. Just take away the cost of the egg and you can see what is left,” he said.
Currently, an egg costs between 50GHp and 70GHp, depending on the size.
A crate of eggs costs between GH¢12 and GH¢18, depending on the size.
Mr Ofori-Adjei argued that the SHS feeding fee was a national issue that should be debated.
Deputy Minister of Education
But speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Pre-tertiary Education, Mr Alex Kyeremeh, said it was ironic that CHASS, which had been part of the deliberations that determined the fee, could complain about it now.
He stated that the committee that decided on the feeding fee took into consideration the prevailing economic conditions and the prices of food items provided by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
While admitting that the feeding fees submitted differed from region to region, he said the ministry had, over the years, not determined the fee on a regional basis but had been guided by statistics on the prices of goods from the GSS.
He, however, declined to comment on whether the amount was enough to feed the students three square meals daily.
Students complain
An SHS student, who spoke to the Daily Graphic on condition of anonymity, said her school used to provide breakfast of porridge, cocoa drink or ‘oblayo’ with bread, but throughout last year her school stopped giving bread for breakfast because the authorities claimed it was expensive.
Another student said the situation got so bad that sometimes they had porridge without bread for supper.
“Had it not been for the provisions I carried to school, most of the time I would have gone hungry,” he said.
Typical meals on the lunch menu for most SHSs in Ghana include beans and gari, waakye, rice with stew and kenkey with pepper and fish.
The same food is put on the table for supper, but alternated.
While critics of the new feeding fee maintain that it is not enough because the prevailing conditions cannot support it, those in favour argue that since the schools buy their foodstuffs in bulk, their expenditure cannot be compared to that of those who want to make profit.
There are two types of feeding fee in the educational system in Ghana — that paid by parents and the one paid by the government to public schools in the three northern regions.
Parents unhappy
Parents feel the fee is not realistic and they wonder if the government will provide additional funds for the feeding.
In an interview, a parent, Mr Martin Atuah, who was happy that the feeding fee was not too high, expressed his conviction that “the government will add something to it, considering the current economic trend”.
However, another concerned parent, Mr Nathaniel Owusu, was not enthused about the development, stating that the students were not eating good food.
“They come back from school sick because they are burdened with too much to study and little to eat. How do we expect them to have peace of mind to study and pass their examinations?” he quizzed.
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