Pupils and students
benefiting from the school feeding programme would also have access to free
healthcare services.
The government is finalising modalities to
register them under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), says Mrs Freda
Prempeh, the Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
She said the school feeding programme would be
extended to cover more schools by the close of the year.
The deputy minister said government was also
finalising discussions with the Ghana COCOBOD to supply the school children
with cocoa drinks to improve on their health.
Mrs Prempeh, who is the Member of Parliament
(MP) for Tano North Constituency, made this known when she interacted with the
chiefs and people of Tanoso, Yamfo and Afrisipakrom in the Ahafo Region at
separate community fora on Monday.
Accompanied by key staff of the ministry, the deputy
minister is embarking on a five-day working visit to engage and sensitise
communities in the region.
Mrs Prempeh cautioned caterers engaged in the
school feeding programme to prepare nutritious meals to help improve on their
health.
The deputy minister said the government is on
course to attain its objectives adding that its social intervention programmes
would be sustained to improve on the socio-economic livelihoods of the people.
Mrs Jocelyn Adii, the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo
Regional Director of Gender, expressed concern over the incidence of teenage
pregnancy, which she said was contributing to early marriages in the
communities.
She said many parents instead of supporting
their girls to continue their education, they gave them out for marriage.
Mrs Adii said the situation was seriously
affecting girl child education and called for concerted efforts to stem rise in
teenage pregnancies in communities.
She also advised parents to support their children to go into employable skills training instead of assisting them to travel abroad through unapproved means.GNA
