Free SHS: Let your wards come to school with food – CHASS tells parents

The Conference of Heads of Assisted Senior High Schools (CHASS) has urged parents and guardians to assist with the feeding challenges in senior high schools.

CHASS had earlier appealed to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to reconsider the reopening of high schools, citing unresolved financial issues, including the government’s non-payment for perishable foods provided for students last year. However, the GES rejected this appeal.

Five days after schools reopened, the National President of CHASS, Rev Fr Stephen Owusu Sekyere, speaking to OTECNEWS on Wednesday January 8, 2025 revealed that the situation in high schools is dire, with many institutions having to ration food.

He therefore encouraged parents to support their children with food items for use at school to complement the government’s provision.

“I encourage parents, and I have already advised my PTA to this effect, to let their children bring food like gari, shitor, and sugar to supplement whatever the school provides. 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,” he said.

He revealed that the situation is particularly severe in schools in northern Ghana.

“Food supplies are not reaching the schools. In places like Upper West, Upper East, and the 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,” Rev Fr Owusu Sekyere added.

He stressed that “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.”