Northern Minister orders probe into School Feeding irregularities

Northern Regional Minister, Ali Adolf John, has directed the Northern Regional Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to investigate reported irregularities in the implementation of the Ghana School Feeding Programme in the region.

The Minister said reports reaching him indicated that some caterers were serving meals to pupils for only 2 or 3 days a week instead of the contracted 5 days.

He also disclosed that some schools were allegedly recording inflated beneficiary figures, with the number of pupils being fed exceeding the enrolment figures contained in their official registers.

Mr John warned that such practices, if allowed to continue, could undermine efforts to expand the school feeding programme to other deprived schools and deprive vulnerable children of the nutritional support intended for them.

He gave the directive at a Regional Education Forum held in Tamale on the theme, “Building Strong Partnerships: The Role of Communities in Advancing Quality Pre-Tertiary Education”.

The forum was organised by ActionAid Ghana in collaboration with the Northern Regional Coordinating Council (NRCC) and brought together GES officials, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), traditional leaders, civil society organisations, Parent-Teacher Associations and School Management Committees, among other stakeholders.

The participants examined challenges confronting education in the region and discussed measures to improve learning outcomes, retention, inclusion and accountability.

Call for stronger coordination
Mr John said the Northern Region continued to face several challenges in the education sector, including inadequate infrastructure and learning materials, teacher and pupil absenteeism and teenage pregnancy.

He said addressing these challenges required sustained collaboration among district authorities, education managers, schools, parents and communities.

The Minister therefore called on MMDAs, the GES and civil society organisations to strengthen coordination and ensure that education priorities were incorporated into district development plans to improve educational outcomes.

He also stressed the importance of involving communities in decision-making on educational matters and commended ActionAid Ghana for its continued advocacy on development issues, particularly education and human rights.

65 violence cases recorded in SHSs
The Northern Regional Statistics Officer of the GES, Alhassan Seibu, disclosed that 65 cases of violence were recorded in 15 Senior High Schools (SHSs) across the region in 2025.

Physical assault on students accounted for the highest number, with 37 cases, followed by sexual harassment by fellow students with 12 cases.

Extortion by colleagues and cyberbullying recorded 5 cases each, while damage to property and assault on staff by students accounted for 2 cases each.

Mr Seibu said the GES had introduced measures to address indiscipline in schools, including strengthening guidance and counselling services and enforcing the code of conduct for students and staff.

He said the Directorate was also deepening collaboration with parents, School Management Committees and security agencies to ensure that reported cases were promptly addressed.

The GES, he added, had intensified sensitisation programmes for students and staff on acceptable behaviour and was ensuring that reported incidents were thoroughly investigated, with appropriate sanctions imposed to deter others.

ActionAid calls for accountability
The Head of Programmes, Campaigns and Innovations at ActionAid Ghana, Justin Bayor, called for stronger accountability mechanisms in the delivery of education services.

He said effective monitoring and accountability were essential to ensuring that resources allocated to support children were used for their intended purposes and that education services responded adequately to the needs of learners.

Mr Bayor stressed that quality education should not be assessed solely by the number of children enrolled in schools, but also by whether they were actually learning and receiving the support required to succeed.