All school feeding arrears paid — Ken Ofori-Atta
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has stated that the government has settled all arrears owed to the Caterers under the (GSFP).
Presenting the mid-year fiscal policy review of the budget statement and economic policy of the government on Monday, July 31, 2023, he said the government will continue to sustain social protection programmes to protect the poor and the vulnerable.
The Caterers had proposed a GH¢3.50 allocation per meal for school pupils under the school feeding programme.
This comes on the heel of a counter-preposition by the government to increase the feeding grant from 98pesewas to GH¢1.20p.
Ken Ofiri-Atta said all caterers have had all their arrears paid.
Under the LEAP programme, he said the government disbursed a total of GH¢169.95 million as of June 2023 to 346,019 households comprising 1,533,748 individuals. This includes the increase of the monthly grant to beneficiary households from GH¢32.00 to GH¢64.00 for one-member household and GH¢38.00 to GH¢76.00 for two-member households. Our target under this programme period is to reach about 8 percent of the population, that is 2.5 million people.
Under the Ghana School Feeding Programme, coverage increased considerably from 1,671,777 beneficiaries in 2016 to 3,801,491 beneficiaries by June 2023. The feeding grants cost per meal, per child, per day increased from GH¢1.00 to GH¢1.20 for the 2023 academic year. We have also settled all arrears owed to caterers under the programme for the second and third terms of the 2022 academic year; and the first term of 2023, he added.
He indicated that the Capitation Grant contributed to increased enrolment in public basic schools from 6,048,897 pupils for the 2021/2022 academic year to 6,114,302 pupils for the 2022/2023 academic year.
Source: PulseGhana
