Students can enjoy a glass of cocoa for breakfast from September 2019

General News on Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-06-11

According to the government, students in the school feeding program will be served a cocoa drink at breakfast from the next school year.

Gertrude Quashigah, Acting National Coordinator of the School Feeding Program in Ghana (GSFP), announced that an official announcement of the new component of the program would be made by President Akufo-Addo in August.

According to her, the cocoa drink will be given at the children's breakfast before their hot and nutritious meal is served in the middle of the morning.

Speaking at the ongoing capacity-building training workshop held for GSFP district caterers, cooks and nutrition officers in Wa, Upper Region. West West, Ms. Quashigah said the introduction of the cocoa drink would help improve children's health.

She said that her presentation introduced several other innovations to improve the GSFP, including the quality of the meal served to children.

Her team is also working hard to improve the well-being of caterers and to develop and sustain the program for the benefit of a greater number of Ghanaian children, she said.

The school feeding program in Ghana was set up to increase school attendance, attendance and retention; reduce hunger and malnutrition in the short term and boost national food production.

The training, dubbed the "Innovative Nutrition Initiative", focuses on "Improving School Meals Through Capacity Building", which will allow caterers and their chefs to meet the quality standards required to prepare a meal. nutritious meal for students.

Training to refine skills

A total of 2,070 caterers and chefs-in-chief benefit from the training program in the region.

Ghana's school feeding program, funded by the World Food Program (WFP) and the Child Development Partnership's (PCD) technical support, is expected to train 5,711 caterers and chefs in the north , the northeast, the savannah, the extreme east and the regions of the Upper West must refine their culinary skills.

The training program consists of two phases: training district nutrition officers to use a software called "School Meal Planner" to create local menus with quantities that can be used by caterers and hands-on cooking training for all caterers and chefs each region.

There would be cooking sessions for caterers and chief cooks on the use of local ingredients to generate healthy and nutritionally balanced meals for schoolchildren who respect the daily intake of 30% in energy.

Catering and chief cooks will also be subject to food hygiene, storage, cooking and service under hygienic conditions, record keeping and the use of practical measures.

All caterers and chief cooks participating in the training program would receive certificates of participation.

Effective management of homemade ingredients

The Acting National Coordinator indicated that the main goal of the workshop was to train participants in using the meal planning software to create district-wide menus.

Second, to strengthen the involvement and participation of Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs), Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the management of an effective and cost-effective school feeding program. she explained.

"The objective of this workshop is also to strengthen the involvement and participation of the Regional Coordinating Councils, MMDAs and the National Secretariat of the Ghana School Feeding Program in the management of the project. an effective and profitable school feeding program, Ms. Quashigah told participants.

She called on the various RCCs and MMDAs to provide the necessary support for the program throughout the training program to ensure its success.

She was optimistic that the training would inspire the best cooking performance of caterers for the enjoyment and health of students participating in the program.

According to Ms. Quashigah, the next phase of the training program would cover the rest of the country.