President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonu insists parents must pay for the feeding and accommodation component of the free Senior High School (SHS) policy.
He made this statement while calling for the review of the policy.
Mr. Carbonu admitted that although the free SHS policy has great benefits to Ghanaians, it is not sustainable under the economic situation the nation finds itself in.
He indicated that his stance is based on the fact that various schools have recorded incidents of food shortages and the absence of balanced diets for students.
According to him, students now depend largely on pocket money and provisions from their guardians when they should rely on these as compliments to food from the dining hall.
“The government has stopped headmasters from buying food directly. Instead, money is transferred to schools only after preliminary tasks such as population inventory are completed, and this slows everything down,” saying this practice has delayed schools’ food allocation.
Mr. Carbonu suggested students who resumed school recently are sent back home for the time being, while stakeholders meet to discuss solutions.
The Conference of Heads of Assisted Senior High Schools (CHASS) has encouraged parents to provide their children with enough provisions for school.
According to the conference, this is to help with the feeding challenges in SHSs.
He stressed that food supplies were not reaching the schools and in some cases, they were relying on the old practice of sending students what they had.
“I encourage parents, and I have already advised my PTA to this effect, to let their children bring food like gari, shito, and sugar to supplement whatever the school provides. I urge parents across the country, as the food situation has still not improved in the past two and three years, and it has worsened at this particular time.
