The Executive Director of African Education Watch (Eduwatch), Mr Kofi Asare, has advised Ghanaians not to blame the Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, for the seeming food shortages in some Senior High Schools (SHS) in the country.

According to him, the current food shortage challenges were a result of the Ministry of Finance refusing to release enough cash to pay suppliers of food to the schools.

Responding to questions on the AM SHOW on JoyNews on Monday via Zoom, Mr Kofi Asare said, the Education Ministry and the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) had put in place prudent policies and cash flow projections to ensure that the SHS keep running without challenges.  

He explained that the Finance Ministry’s refusal to release the right amount of funds to pay the food suppliers made it difficult for them to have enough cash to buy and supply to the schools.

“Look until the Finance Ministry makes it a point of releasing funds to the suppliers regularly and on time, it would be difficult for this shortage issue to end since they cannot continue borrowing money to buy food stocks at huge sums for supply in the schools”. The Ex. Director said.

Mr Asare suggested that the feeding component of the Free Senior High School should be looked at critically and make parents who can afford to pay.

The Ex. Director’s call follows recent media reports of food shortages in some SHS in the country leading to many parents getting worried about how their children and wards would be fed while in school.

But the Spokesperson for the Education Ministry, Mr Kwasi Kwarteng, in a Facebook post over the weekend said the government has met the leadership of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) to find a lasting solution to the issue.

He said the Ministry and the leadership of CHASS have resolved the issue and food would be supplied to the affected schools by Tuesday.