The constituency secretary for the NDC of Berekum West District in the Brong Ahafo Region, Hon Daniel Owusu Brempong has stated that, introduction of the school feeding program into schools was a nice policy by former President, John Agyekum Kuffour’s administration; however, it neglects Junior High Schools (JHS).
According to Hon Daniel Owusu Brempong, the school feeding programs starts from KG and ends at class Six. Then continues from Senior High Schools (SHS), SHS one to SHS three while leaving out JHS students.
He pointed out that, JHS are the critical areas where teenage pregnancy occurs most, due to hardship conditions. He further pointed out that, JHS students are from time to time given folic acid and thus students are advised to eat before taking such drugs, thus extending school feeding to them is critical.
He emphasized that, during this youthful stage, they have love for food and that gives deviant men the opportunity to exploit them thus leading to high teenage pregnancy and high school dropout among the girls. “It’s sometimes disheartened to see these students starving in schools”, he lamented.
He called all parents, stakeholders and other opinion leaders to help push the policy for the JHS students in Ghana.
He therefore appeals to the government to include JHS students into the school feeding programs to enable them have their fair share of the National cake.
