Assessing the Ideological Foundations and Relevance of the School Feeding Policy in Ghana

Abstract

This article critically examines the school feeding policy in Ghana. The policy became operational in the year 2005. It was part of the nation's effort to curb a drop in school enrolment that became a global concern which became part of the United Nations (UN) global efforts to reduce poverty in many parts of the world. The drop in school enrolment was attributed to poverty, hunger, and inequality in many deprived communities. So, to address those problems, the UN initiated various forms of interventions in member nations as part of efforts to improve school enrolment, reduce inequality and poverty. Ghana initiated a school feeding that was aimed at providing at least one hot meal a day for every child at the basic school level. Implementation of the policy has faced a lot of challenges and lack of political will. Some critics therefore argue that alternative policy initiatives should be considered to improve or replace the existing school feeding policy because although enrolment seem to go up, there is little evidence the policy is improving academic performance