Cooks of a school feeding programme have resolved to embark on strike pegging their proposed action on months of unpaid allowances.
Responsible for thousands of pupils in public schools in the Krachi East Municipality, they told the Ghana news agency that they were no longer ready to work without timely payment of their allowances.
“We have been patient for too long, some of us borrowed money just to continue cooking for the children because we know many of them depend on the meals. If the money is not paid soon, we will have no option but to stop,” one of the cooks, Madam Mariama Adisah said.
She and her colleagues said they had been borrowing to stay afloat and were no longer ready to do so.
Some of them told the reporter that they have not received any financial support from government since assuming their roles under the Ghana School Feeding Programme.
This they say, is despite repeated pleas with the authorities.
“We have been using our own money to support the programme because we did not want the children to suffer, but things have become extremely difficult, traders and supplies are refusing to give us food items on credit because previous debts are still unpaid,” they added.
They also told the correspondent that the rising cost of food items and transportation has further worsened the situation, making it almost impossible to sustain the programme without government intervention.
READ ALSO: Bandits Storm Girls Secondary School, Kill Principal, Abduct Girls
READ ALSO: Ogun Unveils Plan For ₦1bn AI-Driven Digital Learning Classroom At Remo Secondary School
Many of them disclosed that they are already indebted to local traders and financial institutions after borrowing money to purchase rice, beans, cooking oil, fish and other essential ingredients for school meals, the agency reported.
The One Hot Meal initiative was introduced in 2016, by the New Patriotic Party government in 2016.
Pre-financed and managed by the Ministry of Education, it provides a hot meal daily for students in secondary and technical day schools across Ghana.
Our checks show that while most vendors’ contracts expired in September 2025, some contracts still run in some schools.
