Address school feeding arrears - GNECC

The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) has urged the government to expedite action in settling all arrears owed to caterers so that they can resume work.

Data, it said, showed that school enrolments had increased since the launch of the School Feeding initiative in 2005.

“The pilot programme recorded an impressive increase in enrolment by about 14.5 per cent. At the kindergarten level, enrolment went up from about 500,000 students in 2004-2005 to more than 800,000 in 2005-2006, an increase of 67 per cent.

“During the same period, the primary net enrolment rate increased from 59.1per cent to 68.8 per cent, while net enrolment at the junior high school level increased from 31.6 per cent to 41.6 per cent,” a statement signed by the National Chairman of GNECC, Joseph Atsu Homadzi, said.

Position

It said the coalition would want to emphasise unequivocally that the programme's leadership was placing the school management and Ghanaian children in a very awkward position that had the potential to negatively impact on school enrolment.

“This will defeat the main purpose of access to education which is the right of the Ghanaian child. We, therefore, encourage the caterers to cordially open their arms and dialogue with the duty bearers to address the situation. And if it will be possible, develop a payment plan for clearing the arrears owed by the government,” it said.