According to Africa Education Watch, a 200 percent increase in the cost of the school feeding program is needed to provide beneficiaries with quality food.
According to the think tank, this is in reaction to the continuing demand for an increase in the cost of feeding and the payment of arrears due caterers under the initiative.
The percentage increase will close the GH3 billion gap with the intervention to enhance the quality of food supplied to students.
According to Kofi Asare, Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, the government must implement the automatic adjustment formula of financing the policy to prevent it from collapsing.
“What the caterers need is not a 10 percent adjustment in the unit cost of feeding. It wouldn’t do anything. At least a 200 percent increase in the feeding budget is GH¢3 billion and that is required to provide decent food for children in basic schools to be consistent with what government is paying for in providing lunch at the SHS level.”
Some caterers in the government’s school feeding program have withdrawn their services since school began on Tuesday, April 4.
The caterers threatened to lay down their tools after the government failed to pay arrears due to them.
The caterers, who are also requesting an increase in the amount the government gives per child daily from GHp 97 to GH3, claim that the current amount is unsustainable due to the current state of the economy and the high cost of food commodities.
Headteachers verified to the media that they do not expect to receive food for their students under the government’s school feeding program on Tuesday because the caterers have told them that they will not be cooking.
“The Minster of Finance must review the framework and ensure that expenditure allocation and projection for the Ghana school feeding program is consistent with the exigencies of the time in terms of the nutritional needs of the students, inflationary trends”, Kofi Asare added.