Wa, Nov. 9, GNA - Mr. Caesar Kale, the Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, has expressed concern about the low number of schools that benefited from the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) in the region as compared to other areas of the country. He said for a region that had been considered the poorest and less endowed in the country, there could not be any justification why only 19 schools could be benefiting from the GSFP.

He appealed to the Executive Director of the GSFP to take a serious look at the current trend and select more schools in the region to benefit from the programme to improve enrolment and the health of children. Mr. Kale was addressing key actors of the GSFP including officials of the ministries of Health, Food and Agriculture and Education as well as District Chief executives and Coordinators at a forum in Wa on Monday. The forum was to offer the actors an opportunity to look at the various aspects of the programme to solution to challenges facing the programme. He said an increase in the number of beneficiary schools in the region would not only enhance the implementation of the programme but would also improve the quality of education.

Mr. Kale urged the stakeholders to show concern about the nutritional content of food that would be served to the children, the hygienic conditions of the environment where food would be prepared and the linkages of the programme to local productivity. He called for collaboration and team work among caterers, school authorities, the district assemblies and the Ghana Education Service, as well as the Ghana Health Service and parents to ensure the success of the programme.

Mr. Kale warned against any misconduct by actors at any level, adding: "We will not hesitate to take drastic action against any misdeed by any such actors".

Alhaji Suleman Abdul Rahman, National Coordinator of the GSFP, said the programme was started in 2005 with 1,696 public schools onboard and benefited 656,624 children in the 170 districts. He said GSFP was expected to cover about 1, 40,000 children by 2010. Alhaji Rahmman said there was an institutional breakdown, lack of transparency, corruption and politicisation of the programme among others, which nearly marred the sustainability of the programme. He told the new management of the programme to avoid involving politics in the administration of the programme, adding: "we must strictly adhere to management guidelines to sustain the programme".

Madam Cecila Salamatu Adams, Upper West Regional Coordinator of the GSFP, appealed to the actors to play their roles properly to avoid the wrongs of the past and work to improve the system to benefit children in school. "It is not the programme that is bad but it was the people put to manage the programme that were bad and we must take lessons from them and come out with alternative ways to improve the system," she said. 10 Nov 09