Bolgatanga, May 3, GNA - The Northern Patriots in Research and Advocacy (NORPRA) has called on all well-meaning Ghanaians to protest against Government's failure to release the school feeding grant to second cycle institutions in the three Northern Regions. Calling specifically on students of first and second cycle institutions and parents, NORPRA also said the demonstration was necessary because, government had again failed to provide free meals and uniforms for pupils in basic schools in the three Northern Regions as contained in the Ghana Poverty Strategy I (GPRSI).

A statement signed by Mr Agorogo Adongo Bismark, President of NORPRA on Saturday said, the Group has planned to stage three demonstrations in Bolgatanga, Tamale and Wa on the 7th, 12th and 15th of May this year respectively.

It said NOPRA intended to question government why Senior High School students in the North could not go back to school when the economy had been described as sound, vibrant and resilient.

Again, it said pupils in the basic schools in the North, who would also join the demonstrations, would used the occasion "to demand an explanation from the government why a proposed policy in the country's poverty reduction strategy to provide them with free meals and uniforms has not been implemented after the policy had been formulated six years ago."

The statement noted that, second cycle institutions in the North, which should have been reopened by now, were still closed down because school authorities do not know when the feeding grants would be provided.

It said considering the soundness and resilience of the economy shown by the macroeconomic indicators, it was appropriate to conclude that the government was only being insensitive to the educational development of the North.

The statement appealed to the public to participate in the demonstrations in order to achieve the desired purpose.