The Education Ministry says it has made arrangements with suppliers to provide senior high schools in the Upper West Region with food.

The regional chapter of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools last week issued a warning that students and parents may be compelled to take up the cost of feeding if the government failed to provide supplies within six days.

In a letter to the Regional Director of the Ghana Education Service, CHASS noted that the food suppliers contacted by the Buffer Stock Company, as well as local suppliers contacted to help out are all refusing to do so, citing non-payment of outstanding monies owed them by the government.

This they say has exacerbated an already dire situation in schools in the region, with some schools not having enough supplies to last a week.

Most schools had run out of maize, rice, sugar, palm oil and other oils, soya beans, sardine and mackerels, and Tombrown.

Speaking to JoyNews, the Public Relations officer of the Ministry of Education, Kwasi Kwarteng conceded that there had been challenges with the supply of food to schools in recent times.

He, however, noted that following the intervention of the Education Minister, schools in the region would begin receiving supplies starting tomorrow, July 12.

“There have been reports of food shortages and potential food shortages in most of the schools. I mean if you read the presser that was released by CHASS Upper west chapter, clearly, they cited a potential food shortage, and based on that the Minister of Education has had to act and intervene and as I speak with you arrangements have been had for suppliers to supply food to avert potential food shortage within the region and some schools that may have that challenges.

“So yes we do admit there could be challenges but that doesn’t mean it necessarily has to do with delays in payments, sometimes it may have to do with logistical constraints like storage facilities. But we do admit this has more to do with the delays of the payment than the suppliers not having the power or the capacity to supply,” he said.