Female students take WFP rations from local suppliers

Effective September, this year, female students in junior high schools (JHSs) who are beneficiaries of the World Food Programme (WFP) food rations in the Nkwanta-North District will take their rations directly from local suppliers.

The initiative is meant to address all bottlenecks associated with the distribution of the rations to female students through their school authorities.

The Girl-Child Education Coordinator (GCEC) of the district, Mrs Stella Adzumah, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, said the suppliers would collaborate with the Girl Child Education Unit of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to facilitate the distribution.

“This will prevent the hustle of moving the foodstuff from Accra to Tamale before it is brought to us here. This time, the food will not be sent to the schools. The GCEC will issue a coupon for each of the beneficiaries to go directly to the suppliers for the food at vantage points in the community. 

The rumours and allegations of misappropriation that surround the distribution of the food by school authorities will also be stopped by this new arrangement,” she said.

About WFP

The operations of the WFP, which is limited to the Northern, Upper East, and Upper West regions, were introduced at the Nkwanta-North District in 2013 as a measure to improve the attendance, retention and performance of females in the junior high schools (JHSs) in the area, as a step to improve the dwindling fortunes of education of females.

 As part of the initiative, students in the 23 JHSs in the district are given a monthly take-home ration made up of maize, sardine and cooking oil.

The students are required to make a minimum of 80 per cent attendance in school every month to benefit from the rations.

Mixed outcome

According to Mrs Adzumah, the attendance and retention of females had improved drastically since the programme was introduced in 2013.

“Between 2013 and April 2016, 62 of the 142 teenage mothers who dropped out of school returned and are doing so well. Some of them are in senior high school (SHS) now, and we are monitoring their progress,” she said.

Mrs Adzumah said even though the attendance and retention of female students had improved, much progress had not been made in terms of performance.

She attributed the situation to a multiplicity of factors, including large class size, lack of logistics, and inadequate qualified teachers.

“My problem with the girls has to do with their performance. They are enjoying the rations but the performance is not improving. But the thing is that if you enter our classes, you will find about 120 in one class. Hence, the teachers cannot monitor the students as expected,” she said.

She appealed to the government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to roll out more female-friendly programmes to support girls in deprived districts.