The Conference of Heads of Assisted Senior High Schools (CHASS) has called on parents to supply their children with enough provisions for school, in a bid to alleviate ongoing feeding challenges in Senior High Schools (SHSs) across the country.
CHASS has requested the Ministry of Education to promptly disburse pending funds to ensure the uninterrupted functioning of SHSs nationwide.
The conference warned that unresolved financial shortfalls could disrupt academic activities and compromise student welfare.
A communiqué, signed by CHASS National Secretary Primus Baro, highlighted the persistent financial challenges faced by schools, despite previous communications and verbal assurances from the Minister of Education during a Zoom meeting on December 18, 2024.
The communiqué also appealed for an extension of the January 3, 2025 reopening date.
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However, the Ghana Education Service (GES) later announced that it was in discussions with the Ministry of Education to expedite the resolution of issues raised by CHASS leadership.
GES insisted that students were expected to report back to school on January 3, 2025.
In an interview with JoyNews on January 8, Primus Baro emphasized the severity of the situation and the necessity of parental support.
“I encourage parents, and I have already advised my PTA to this effect, to let their children bring food like gari, shito, and sugar to supplement whatever the school provides,” he said.
“I urge parents across the country, as the food situation has still not improved in the past two and three years, and it has worsened at this particular time.”
Baro further explained that food supplies were not reaching the schools, particularly in regions like the Upper West, Upper East, and Northern regions.
“In places like the Upper West, Upper East, and Northern regions, apart from rice, the schools have no stable food supplies. Oil is completely unavailable. For example, in my school, I currently don’t have a single drop of oil, so my matron has been using margarine to replace oil for cooking. I don’t have maize or beans—only rice and some gari,” he noted.
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“We are still relying on the old practices of sending students with what they have, and that’s the only reason we allowed the students to return. Otherwise, the situation is still far from ideal,” Baro stated.
The CHASS leadership is hopeful that with the combined efforts of the Ministry of Education and parental support, the feeding challenges in SHSs can be mitigated to ensure a smooth academic year.