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30.06.2016 General News

Students Stranded Over Feeding Grants

30.06.2016 LISTEN
By Daily Guide


It's been over two days when students in the various senior high schools (SHSs) in the Upper East Region were called back to school to continue with their studies.

DAILY GUIDE checks have revealed that the schools in Bolgatanga and other parts of the region have still not had their feeding grants released as promised by the government.

It is becoming clear that the government's announcement regarding the release of some GH¢49 million to be shared among senior high schools in the three Northern Regions and other parts of the country, was just a hoax. And yet the deputy Minister for Education in-charge of Tertiary Education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, came to Bolgatanga and looked into the faces of the heads of the schools as well as dignitaries at the 'Government for the People Forum' to re-echo that the government had released the feeding grants and that students could report back to their various schools for academic work to continue.

The heads of the senior high schools and even the education directorate would not talk about their plight nor confirm the release of the money for fear of being transferred or sabotaged. Suppliers have started asking for their monies because the government had announced the release of the grants.

However, the Regional Chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), Vincent Atuure, has confirmed that the schools had not received any grants.

According to him, the PTAs were even receiving contrary information that no money had even been released to the Scholarship Secretariat to be disbursed to the SHSs. He however, maintained that he had not confirmed that information at the time of the interview.

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Many suspect that the government had to announce the release of the feeding grants – even when they were not ready – so as to discourage groups which had announced their intention to organise demonstrations across the three Northern Regions.

Information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicated the heads were forcing students who still owed some fees, to pay to complement the little food that the schools have.

The inadequate food situation in the Upper East Region is worrying many students; and have been wondering whether they would be going back home or not. If it happens that they will have to leave the schools, some of them, especially those from poor homes and far away communities, say they would find it difficult to go back home.

From: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bolgatanga

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