School Feeding: Caterers in schools feed pupils with ‘bad palm oil served with watery beans’ – Auditor General’s Report

The Auditor General’s Report for the year ended 2022 has highlighted pressing issues in the School Feeding programme.

The Report has disclosed that school pupils are being fed with bad palm oil served with watery beans.

Contrary to the National Operations Manual, pupils are also served with jollof rice prepared without any protein accompaniment.

“We noted during our visits to the schools that, not all the caterers used wholesome food items to prepare meals. For instance, at the Ankyernyin D/A Basic School, we observed in the presence of the Western Regional Coordinator and the caterer, that the cooks prepared jollof without any protein contrary to the requirements in the National Operations Manual.

“Also, the cook at the Kanfakrom D/A school in the Western Region used corn dough that had gone mouldy to prepare banku for the pupils,” parts of the Auditor General’s report said.

It continued, “Our interactions with the pupils in all the schools we visited generally indicated that, they had complained to the teachers about either the lack of or inadequate fish, foreign materials in their meals, bad palm oil served with watery beans, and the bad smell and taste of food. However, the caterers still provided poor quality meals for them, hence their difficulty in eating the meals.”

The Auditor General’s report recommends addressing these challenges to ensure that school pupils are fed properly.