The National Coordinator of Ghana School Feeding progamme, Hajia Fati Fogor has called for the provision of decent kitchen infrastructure across all the beneficiary schools under the school feeding programme to strengthen good hygiene practices and the provision of healthy meals for the school children.
Hajia Fati Fogor is specifically targeting residents in communities, philanthropists and other stakeholders on the school’s kitchen infrastructure project to contribute to the government’s efforts in extending quality education to the basic level.
She observed the contributions of decent kitchen to the food given to pupils during her unannounced visit to the Talensi District and other districts in the Upper East Region to inspect the activities of the school feeding caterers on food hygiene, personal hygiene of caterers, quality of food served and effectiveness of the cooking schedules by the caterers.
At Tongo-Gorogo primary School in the Talensi District, Hajia Fati Fogor was highly impressed by intervention of a resident for financing the construction of a new kitchen for the school to replace the delipidated kitchen mud structure and that has given a serene beauty and atmosphere of a cooking environment.
“I am here in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region On my normal, unannounced monitoring. So my monitoring took me to this particular school called Gorogo Primary School. I got intrigued when I got here because wherever I go, I am always interested in seeing where the food is being prepared for the children.
Upon reaching here, I saw a new structure and I also saw an old structure. So it prompted me to ask. Then the Assistant headteacher mentioned that an individual from this very community, upon seeing the state of the old kitchen here, decided to do this for the school. Isn’t it commendable? This is what I have been preaching all along.
School structures which have been there for ages, in the initial plan did not have these kitchens attached to them.The school feeding programme, we just not look at the food we serve to the children, but we look at the environment and the condition under which the food is prepared and served to the children.
So wherever I go, I play much emphasis on this. I have spoken on several platforms that at least PTA can come in to help individuals like this person who have actually done this for us,” she stated.
“We encourage individuals to come up to do more of such projects to support their communities. Caterers go, caterers come. Whoever comes here will benefit from this particular structure we are all seeing here”, Hajia Fati Fogor added.
She was also impressed by the quality of food cooked for the children and how caterers are neatly dressed and following all the good kitchen practices.
The National Coordinator for the Ghana School Feeding programme paid a visit to the District Chief Executive for Talensi Millim Nabwomya who assured her of the Assembly’s efforts in improving on educational infrastructure across the district and that the Assembly will consider with the provision of decent kitchens to support the programme because it increases enrollment and improves on their academic performances.
There are currently fifty two public schools in the Talensi District benefiting from the School Feeding programme with seventy caterers providing hot meals to the pupils.
By Tanko Mohammed Rabiu
