President Nana Akufo-Addo says all final year Junior High School (JHS) students are to be given one hot meal per day from Monday, August 24.

This comes after it was reported that some final year students had been "going hungry in complying with the Covid-19 protocols".

Therefore, in his 15th address to the nation the on measures taken against the spread of Covid-19 on Sunday, President Akufo-Addo disclosed that he had instructed the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Cynthia Morrison to begin the necessary preparations of making one hot meal available to all final year Junior High School students and staff.

According to him, this measure, expected to be in place for close to one month, is to ensure "full observance of the Covid-19 safety protocols" by both students and staff.

“I have recently received reports that some final year JHS students are going hungry in complying with Covid-19 protocols. I have just instructed the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection to begin preparations to ensure that as of August 24 to September 18, all 584,000 final year JHS students and 146,000 staff both in public and private schools be given one hot meal a day," the President said.

In July, the Ghana Education Service (GES) announced that final year JHS students are to write their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) from 14 to 18 September 2020.