Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has rejected claims that students in Ghana's senior high schools are experiencing inadequate food supplies, insisting that government has taken steps to ensure schools have sufficient food under the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme.

Mr Iddrisu was responding to concerns raised by NPP flagbearer Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who criticised the current implementation of Free SHS and suggested that the programme had suffered setbacks under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.

The Education Minister said government had reviewed the funding arrangements for feeding under Free SHS and that the decision to uncap the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) had helped improve the availability of food in schools.

“President John Dramani Mahama has reviewed the Free SHS and its funding mechanism for feeding. With the uncapping of the GETFund, adequate food supplies have been made available to all senior high schools across the country,” Mr Iddrisu said.

The Minister also disputed Dr Bawumia's broader assessment that the Free SHS programme was in crisis, arguing that some of the challenges currently being addressed were inherited from the previous administration.

Mr Iddrisu's latest assurance follows comments he made in June, when he said schools were no longer suffering the food shortages that had affected the programme in previous years. He attributed the improvement to changes in the financing and procurement arrangements involving the Ghana Commodity Exchange and the National Food Buffer Stock Company.

In September, the Minister similarly assured students returning for the 2026/2027 academic year that government had made adequate provisions for their meals. He also disclosed that President Mahama had directed a review of the SHS menu to improve its nutritional quality, including the addition of eggs and chicken.

The Education Ministry says the measures form part of efforts to improve the implementation of Free SHS and ensure that students' basic welfare needs, including access to adequate and nutritious meals, are properly addressed.

Mr Iddrisu maintained that government remains committed to addressing outstanding challenges within the programme while ensuring that Free SHS continues to provide access to secondary education for Ghanaian students.

Photo courtesy: Hon. Haruna Iddrisu