According to the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS), some 234,606 students and 68,716 teachers from 5,760 private Junior High Schools (JHSs) across the country will benefit from the government’s free meal initiative starting August 24, 2020, to September 18, 2020.
His Excellency Akufo-Addo in his 15th televised address to the nation announced that all BECE candidates and staff across the country will from August 24, enjoy one hot meal Monday to Friday until the end of the 2020 edition of Basic Education Certificate Examination on September 18, 2020.
President Akufo-Addo said this timely intervention follows reports that some final year JHS students were going hungry in complying with the novel coronavirus safety protocols.
The National Executive Director of GNACOPS, Mr Enoch Kwasi Gyetuah speaking in a Zoom interview with TV3’s Berla Mundi on COVID-19 360 show monitored by Georgeweb.org commended President Akufo-Addo for his effort in supporting not just only public students but also private ones.
Mr Enoch Gyetuah disclosed that 234,606 students representing 41.1 % of the 584,000 BECE candidates and 68,716 teachers representing 47.1 % of the 146,000 staff in all JHSs are expected to benefit from the free meal initiative.
He added that the 234,606 students and 68,716 teachers are from 5,760 private Junior High Schools (JHSs) across the country.
The Executive Director explained that private Junior High Schools (JHSs) that do not partake the annual Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) are exempted from the initiative.
He furthered that the initiative is purposely for 2020 BECE candidates and teachers in private Junior High Schools registered with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and has its data submitted to GNACOPS.
The GNACOPS Director noted that the government is in engagements with other stakeholders in the education sector concerning the uncompleted 2019/2020 academic calendar, whether to start the new curriculum in the 2020/2021 academic year or complete with the 2019/2020 academic year.
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