Education think tank Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) has called on the Ministry of Education to increase the amount spent on feeding per basic school pupil.
Speaking at the 2023 Education Financing Conference held at the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement, University of Ghana, the Executive Director for EduWatch, Kofi Asare, stated that the current GH¢1.2 per meal is woefully inadequate to provide nutritious meals for pupils and must therefore be increased.
Mr. Asare further indicated that the government must allocate at least 60 percent of the 2024 GETFund budgetary allocation toward improving education infrastructure.
“The MoE must increase the GSFP per unit allocation of the current GH¢1.2 per meal to GH¢3. This will help mitigate the impact of high food inflation. Efforts should be made to deepen transparency in the GSFP while fully decentralizing its management to local authorities.
“The MoE must allocate at least 60% of the 2024 GETFund budgetary allocation to financing education infrastructure, with priority to basic education.”
He also demanded that the Ministry of Education “must strengthen transparency and accountability in the utilization of the Capitation Grant at the district and school levels. The strict alignment of the Capitation Grant to School Performance Improvement Plans is critical to ensuring effective spending towards improving learning outcomes at the school level.”
