Government to sanction caterers serving substandard meals under school feeding programme — Gender Minister

The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, has announced that the government is preparing to impose sanctions on caterers under the School Feeding Programme who consistently serve substandard meals to pupils.

According to her, investigations conducted by the ministry have uncovered instances where meals provided to children failed to meet the required nutritional and quality standards.

The Minister said punitive measures, including possible termination of contracts, would be applied to serve as a deterrent to caterers who compromise the health and welfare of schoolchildren.

Addressing Parliament on Wednesday, June 24, Agnes Naa Momo Lartey acknowledged that although some caterers were delivering quality meals, others had fallen below the expected standards.

“The standard and the quality is supposed to be the same[nationwide] but being a human institution, sometimes you have people going below the standard, and when such cases are reported to the ministry, we go a long way to investigate, and then where we need to issue out punitive measures, we take those steps in doing so, just to serve as deterrent to others who might have intentions of serving substandard food to our children,” she said.

The minister was responding to questions from Members of Parliament regarding measures being taken to address concerns over poor-quality meals served under the programme.

She explained that the ministry places the health and safety of pupils above all other considerations and would rather delay feeding than allow children to consume unsafe or nutritionally inadequate meals.

“In all of these, the health and safety of the child is what is paramount to us. So, if we have to delay feeding for the child to get the actual meal, or the nutritious meal, is best, is in the best interest of the child than serving in the name of meeting the timeline,” the minister stated.

The Member of Parliament for Asante Akim Central had sought clarification on the number of reported cases and the measures put in place to ensure pupils do not go hungry when caterers are turned away for providing poor-quality food.

In response, the minister said the ministry was yet to collate the total number of reported incidents but assured Parliament that the necessary data would be provided.

The School Feeding Programme remains one of the major social intervention initiatives in the country aimed at improving school enrolment, attendance and nutrition among pupils in public basic schools across the country.