The Head of Public Relations at the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), Mr Siiba Alfa, has stated that the GSFP will terminate the contracts of all caterers who provide poor meals to Junior High School final students.
This comes after some students in the Ashanti Region rejected the food due to bad taste amongst others.
According to Siiba Alfa, although the GSFP envisaged that the serving of meals may encounter challenges, it was ready to address them quickly.
However, he said the GSFP will not tolerate any caterer who violates the rules of engagement.
He made the statements on Atinka FM’s radio morning show, the AM Drive hosted by Nana Owoahene Acheampong.
Siiba Alfa also stated that so far, the implementation of the free hot meals for JHS students have been good, stating that the caterers have been trained to execute the project amidst the covid-19 pandemic.
“Everything is going on well, we started the implementation of giving JHS students one hot meal a day across the nation. So far so good. We are giving the food to over 584,000 students and 146,000 teachers and staff of both public and private,” he said.
He said the same caterers for School Feeding are being used for this initiative, adding that in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service,(GES) the caterers have been given special training for the particular project.
“They have experience and they have been trained in a way to prepare wholesome food amidst the covid-19 pandemic so that there is no spread of the disease because we are not in normal times. We have taught them to adhere to the safety protocols while preparing and packing the food,” he said.
Reacting to the inconveniences including rejection of the food by some students due to alleged poor taste. “It is a human institution and you will find out that one or two caterers will be doing things differently from what we want, but it does not mean the whole nation is doing that,”
He added that the school feeding programme is monitoring the cooking and distribution of the food to ensure the programme becomes a success.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori