The National Coordinator of the Ghana National Egg Campaign Secretariat (GNECS), Ms Comfort Acheampong, has reiterated calls for the includion of eggs into the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP).

She said it was about time that the GSFP secretariat accepted proposals to allow caterers of the programme to add eggs to the meals of the school children.

A statement signed and issued in Accra by the GNECS said as far back as 2019, there was some discussions between the secretariat and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection on how to efficiently add eggs to the meals of the pupils without incurring additional cost.

During a school activation event at Sowa Din Memorial Cluster of Schools in Accra, Ms Acheampong recalled that the Gender Ministry gave the greenlight for a pilot to be carried out in the Western and Western North regions after the meeting.

GNECS also trained a number of caterers on how to maximise the use of eggs as part of the pilot activities.

“The project, however, stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From the training, it was established by the dieticians that when 20 eggs are properly scrambled, there will be enough to meet the nutritional needs of 100 pupils.  

“This negates arguments that it is costly to add eggs to the GSFP,” she said.

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Laudable appeal  

A senior staff of the Adenta Municipal Education Directorate, Mr Ebenezer Perry Ofori, who spoke on behalf of the Director of Education, welcomed the call by the GNECS, and said “with the enormous benefits of egg, it is just ideal for the GSFP to buy into the suggestions”.

The school activation event was to intensify the awareness creation on the benefits of egg.

“It is important to let children understand the benefits of eating eggs so they can make meaningful choices. Egg nutrition education is also being done at the churches, lorry parks and markets across the country,” she said.

A Public Health specialist at the Ghana Health Service, Mr Kwabena Kusi, who enumerated several benefits of eggs to the pupils at the event, explained that egg is rich in proteins and has a lot of vitamins, including vitamins A and D, said to be good for eyesight and bone development respectively.

He urged that people without any medical conditions could eat at least two eggs a day.

The Head Teacher of Sowa Din 1 JHS, Mr Kelvin Addo-Sunu, expressed delight at the opportunity for the school to benefit from an educative programme.

“Egg is an excellent food with lots of vitamins and minerals, and with our commitment to improving the health and education of every child, we will cease every opportunity to achieve this potential, and this event is one of them.

The GNECS, as part of the campaign, presented over 4,000 eggs to be shared to the pupils of the school, which has a little over 2,000 students.