School feeding programme unsustainable, too politicized — Kojo Yankah

The Ghana school feeding programme, which aims to provide one hot meal a day to students, has come under criticism for being overly politicized and lacking long-term sustainability.

According to Kojo Yankah, Founder of the Pan African Heritage Museum, the current model of the feeding program is too dependent on which political party is in power.

He raised concerns that the program is encouraging 'school shopping' as children switch schools to access free meals.

"The school Feeding program is NOT sustainable. First, most children are leaving their original schools to go to schools where there is Feeding. Second, it’s making our youth lazy : in our time we had school farms. Third, no government budget can support the growing number of children in Ghana," Yankah wrote in a Facebook post.

"SELF RELIANCE in an agriculture-based economy should be the driving force ! We have NO excuse," Kojo Yankah suggested.

The Ghana School Feeding Program (GSFP) which started in 2005 is an initiative of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) Pillar 3 which seeks to enhance food security and reduce hunger in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on hunger, poverty and malnutrition.

The immediate objectives of the programme are to contribute to increase school enrolment, attendance and retention.

It also aims to reduce short-term hunger and malnutrition among kindergarten and primary school children and boost domestic food production.