Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, says the Ghana School Feeding Programme remains one of the most visible ways the Ministry touches the lives of Ghana’s schoolchildren every single school day.

She noted that on every single school day, 4.53 million Ghanaian children eat a hot, nutritious meal through the Ghana School Feeding Programme (an increase from 4.03m in 2024).

Speaking at the Government Accountability Series Press Conference held at the Presidency in Accra, Dr Lartey said in 2024, Government allocated GH₵1,393,000,000 to the programme, feeding 4,029,580 pupils, at a grant of GH₵1.50 per meal.

She said in 2025, the Government of President John Dramani Mahama raised the grant to GH₵2.00 per meal – the first increase in years, backed by a budget of GH₵1,788,000,000, reaching 4,231,000 pupils.

Dr Lartey said the 2026 year’s allocation saw further increment to GH₵1,982,000,000, a 42 per cent increase, holding the grant at GH₵2.00 per meal while reaching 4,527,636 children daily.

She said alongside that funding growth, they had cleared all caterer arrears from 2024 and paid the 1st and 2nd terms of the 2025/26 academic year.

“We scaled our compliance monitoring from 4,419 schools in 2025 to 8,270 schools this year, 2026. We have trained 20,171 caterers and head cooks in practical nutrition standards,” Dr Lartey stated.