The Gombe State Ministry of Education has denied allegations of underfeeding students at Government Girls Mega College, Doma, insisting that adequate food is being provided to students in the boarding school.
Reacting to the allegations during a telephone interview with our correspondent, the Special Assistant on Media to the Gombe State Ministry of Education, Saidu Malala, said there was sufficient food supply in the school.
Findings by our correspondent indicated that some Senior Secondary School Three (SS3) students sitting for the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) have been missing meals due to the examination schedule.
Students who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent that they have been having rumbling stomachs and fear a possible ulcer attack as a result of going for long hours without meals during the examination period.
However, Malala maintained that students receive meals regularly.
“Students get food in the morning, afternoon and later in the evening around 5 p.m. Recently, we distributed non-perishable food items to boarding schools. As you know, we have 20 boarding schools across the state,” he said.
He added: “As far as I’m concerned, we don’t have any case of underfeeding. I have reached out to the Director of School Services because schools are directly under him, as well as the principal of the school, and I was convinced based on what they have said.”
Explaining the situation affecting SS3 students, Malala attributed it to the ongoing WAEC examinations rather than a shortage of food.
“What happened is that the SS3 students are currently writing their final-year examination, which is WAEC. It comes with a timetable. Actually, what happened is that SS3 students start examinations by 10 a.m., and that’s the time for the paper.
Unfortunately, they can’t eat then until they are through with the first paper.
“Secondly, their second paper is around 12 noon or 1 p.m., and they can’t receive their lunch till 5 p.m. It’s because of the examination schedule that they don’t receive their lunch until 5 p.m., but they receive dinner around 6:30 p.m.”
Malala further explained that the school’s large student population makes it difficult to prepare separate meals for a specific category of students during examination periods.
“Doma has a population of 1,834 students and SS3 is about 500. So what they usually do is cook the food at once, and for them to cook separately may be difficult because ingredients are usually measured for particular meals. It’s going to be tedious.
“However, with or without examinations, their breakfast time is 10 a.m.,” he stated.
