Accra, Dec. 17, GNA - The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) would= be extended to Junior High School (JHS) within the next two years, a government official said on Wednesday.

Mr. Joseph Yieleh Chireh, Minister of Local and Rural Development, said it had come to the notice of the coordinators of the GSFP that some primary school pupils were unwilling to move on to JHS because moving on meant no more feeding for them. "Government's policy for the programme is therefore to ensure that f= rom next year it will

shift from the pilot to mainstream stage to ensure that it is extended to=

benefit more schools in

poor areas, particularly the rural communities." "We have targeted that in the next two years, the GSFP should benefi= t pupils at the JHS

level to ensure that pupils from the primary level can comfortably move o= n to JHS,

particularly in the poorest of the poor areas where such pupils are likel= y to drop out of school

without such motivations," he said. Mr. Yieleh Chireh was speaking at the opening of a two-day conferenc= e on the GSFP jointly organised by the GSFP Secretariat and their development partners,= including the World Bank, World Food Programme, Royal Netherlands Embassy, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and US Agency= for

International Development (USAID). The GSFP, initiated by the NPP administration on pilot basis, has benefited at least

660,000 primary school pupils in schools in selected poor communities, particularly in the

three northern regions. The testimony about the programme is that since it started, school dropout rates in the

selected school has dropped drastically and enrolment has also increased while local farmers

have benefited from the purchase of their produce and local caterers have=

also benefited from

jobs. On coming to office in January this year, the NDC administration pled= ged to continue the

programme and mainstream it to benefit all primary schools in deprived areas, and obviously

more communities in terms of job creation and income generation for farme= rs.

Mr. Yieleh Chireh said in the 2009 budget, government voted GH¢50 million for the GSFP, but no specific amount was voted for it in the 2010 budget read last month.

He said the reason was that government intended to work together with the development partners to tidy up the programme and make it more sustainable.

"We want to work with all the partners, hear the experts and learn from the best practices in order to avoid the challenges of the pilot stage as we move forward to= the mainstream level.

"For instance, we do not believe that all schools at the basic level=

should benefit from the

GSFP programme. Some of them are not in deprived areas and not all parent= s will like their

children to eat the food served by the GSFP any way." The minister argued that the pilot stage lost its focus as a lot of deprived areas were left

out while some "not too deprived areas" benefited. Mr Yieleh Chireh said steps were also being put in place to restore the ownership of the

programme to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, who wer= e to own and run

it. He, however, cautioned that much as the intention of the programme w= as to encourage

school attendance, government had no intention to convert schools from learning institutions

into feeding grounds. Mr. Yieleh Chireh assured the development partners of accountability= in the administration

of the programme and said government was ready to welcome criticisms that=

would help to

make the programme succeed.

Ms Sandra Bodowa, an 11- year-old pupil of Ashongman D. A. Primary School, appealed

to the President, on behalf of the three million primary school pupils in=

Ghana, to extend the

programme nationwide. "We are also waiting for the fulfilment of President John Evans Atta Mills' promise of

cocoa and fruits," she said. Young Sandra thrilled everybody when she noted that lots of pupils fr= om very poor homes

went to school because of the food served and most of them ended up becom= ing great

people in life, adding "what would have become of those great people if f= ood had not been

served in their schools." A representative of the World Bank (WB) said the bank and the DFID w= ere preparing a

Social Protection Programme (SPP) worth $40million, through which the GSF= P and other

social safety net programmes would be supported in a more sustainable way= .. She assured the minister that the SPP would focus on the government'= s policy direction

towards the most deprived areas. Representatives of other development partners took turns to pledge th= eir continued

support for the programme in the coming years. The Royal Netherlands Embassy's core support officially ends next yea= r, but the

representative said the embassy would vote more support for the programme= ..