This follows an announcement by government to disburse some funds for the payment of seven out of the over 120 days owed the caterers under the programme.

[contextly_sidebar id=”SVkQ1tT0ueqylo88XgDDZemaP3GG2H74″]The group has given government a one-week ultimatum to pay all arrears or risk a series of protests in all eleven district capitals across the region.

According to Citi News’ Upper West Regional Correspondent, Latif Mahama, the demonstration is to compel government to “pay all arrears due them, and to register their displeasure on the mode of payments adopted by the managers of the School Feeding Programme.”

At a press conference in Wa, the Upper West Regional Secretary of the School Feeding Programme, Hajia Munira Issah, said majority of their members are having problems with their suppliers and banks due to delays from government.

“We are pleading with the government and the Minister as a matter of urgency to come to our aid. We are giving government two weeks, otherwise we will hit the streets to demonstrate over our money,” said Mr. Isssah.

Meanwhile, Coordinator of the School Feeding Programme, Adu Nsiah, has assured the caterers his outfit is working with the Ministry of Finance to clear the debt.

“On Tuesday, we saw the caterers at the Ministry and their complaint was that they want the total amount to be paid to them. They do not want anything less than the total amount, but we know that in total, the government has been able to pay 151, 736,000. We have also written to Finance Ministry to give us GHC 180 million which will be able to pay everything…”

Former school feeding caterers besiege Gender Ministry over unpaid arrears

Hundreds of former caterers under the Ghana School Feeding Programme, angrily stormed the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection on Tuesday morning, to demand monies owed them for the first and second terms of the 2016/2017 academic year.

Clad in red, the caterers, who call themselves the ‘Concerned Old Caterers of Ghana’, carried placards with various inscriptions demanding immediate payment, such as “We need our money now”, “Pay us our money now!”, “Pay us in full” and “We need our money now!”

Speaking to citifmonline.com after the protest, Dela Agbenu, one of the angry caterers, expressed frustration at the amount supposedly paid each of them for the first seven days of the first term of the 2016/2017 academic year.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Upper West caterers threaten demo over unpaid arrears appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He said the notion that parents are sending their wards to the private schools because of a vote of no confidence in the public ones does not hold.

A lot of private schools both at the secondary and tertiary levels are springing up and they are challenging the quality and excellence of public institutions.

A large number of Ghanaian parents are sending their children to these private institutions due to the increasing perception that these private schools deliver quality education as compared to the public ones.

But speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Tsegah dismissed these assertions saying, “the fact that parents are opting for the private schools doesn’t mean the public school systems are bad.”

He insisted that public schools are still delivering quality education, since “quality is not about the number of programmes that you[private schools] run but the quality and content of the programmes”

Commenting on the fallen standards of education in the Central Region and the lack of desire by children in the region for education, the Director General of the GES confirmed “a lot of children along that line, just go to school and look out through the window and when the boat comes they jump out .”

He attributed the poor school attendance by pupils in the region to a lack of supervision, adding that the problem is prevalent in the region because “most of the teachers are not controlled.”

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

The post Preference for public schools still high – Aheto Tsegah appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.