The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Madam Lariba Zuweira Abudu, says caterers of the Ghana School Feeding Programme will receive payments of their arrears for the third term of the 2022 academic year this week.

She said her Ministry together with the Ministry of Finance as of April 2023 had paid all areas for the first and second terms of the 2022 academic year.

The Minister said this when he addressed the press on the status of the programme in Accra.

Madam Abudu said so far, 11,052 caterers’ files had been cleared for payment.

She added that 76 caterers’ payments were pending due to challenges with their e-zwich payment platforms.

She said some caterers did not cook within the period and, therefore, would not be paid, saying, they were being paid for the number of days they cooked within a term.

Madam Abudu said beneficiary pupils of the programme had increased from 1,611,777 in 2016 to 3,801,491 in 2023 covering 10,832 public basic schools nationwide.

She added that the cost per meal per child per day had been proposed at GHC1.20 from the current GHC1.00.

“The programme continues to provide employment for 34,350 caterers and cooks especially women to enable them to take care of their families.

“Also, the programme has created a ready market for local farmers thereby boosting the local economy,” she said.

The Minister said the programme was currently running an electronic monitoring system, which provided real-time data to enhance programme delivery.

The Ghana School Feeding Programme, an intervention by the Government of Ghana, started in 2005 to provide food to children in public basic schools from kindergarten to primary six.

The programme aims to increase school enrolment, attendance and retention, reduce short-term hunger and malnutrition and boost domestic food production.