Madam Sulemana Alijata, Sissala East District Chief Executive, says 39 more schools from the district would be enrolled into the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) in the next academic year. Currently, she said, only Pieng, Pina and Bassisan Primary Schools were benefiting from the GSFP in the district, noting that adding 39 schools was a confirmation of the government’s commitment to expand the programme nationwide. Madam Alijata made this known in a speech read on her behalf at a forum organised by the Sissala Literacy and Development Programme (SILDEP) involving stakeholders of the GSFP at Tumu in the Upper West Region. Participants at the forum included representatives of the Sissala East District Assembly, the Ghana Education Service (GES), Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Ghana Health Service (GHS), Development Partners, District and School Implementation Committees, caterers and head teachers as, well as representatives of locally-based NGOs. Madam Alijata stressed the need for the District Assembly to engage a full time desk officer for effective supervision and monitoring of the programme. The DCE announced that the World Food Programme would from next academic year provide food for the feeding of the school children for four days in a week while the GSFP take up the extra day. She mentioned delays in funding, lack of knowledge about the new policy on the programme and the inability of the District and School Implementation Committees to carry out its work regularly, especially monitoring, as challenges. Alhaji Moro Ahmed, Deputy Sissala East District Director of Education, said the GSFP had helped increase enrolment in the three beneficiary schools and lauded authorities of the programme for deciding to include 39 schools. He urged the stakeholders, especially headmasters and caterers, who were directly involved with the target group, to play their roles effectively to enable the programme benefit the children. Alhaji Ahmed called on the Authorities of the GSFP to purchase more local food at the communities to boost the incomes of local farmers. Madam Alimata Abu, the Education Advisor for SNV, who gave a detailed presentation on school governance structures and the role of stakeholders, pointed out that the purpose of the forum was to share the findings of an assessment conducted by the SNV, GES, District Assembly with SILDEP on the operations of the GSFP in the district. She said the challenges confronting the effective implementation of the programme would then be discussed by stakeholders to enable them to find the way out. Mr Moses Luri, Executive Director of SILDEP, the facilitating organisation for all stakeholders in Education in the District, thanked all the participants for the sacrifices they had made towards ensuring the successful implementation of the programme. Source: GNA