Gombe denies underfeeding students, blames WAEC timetable

The Gombe State Ministry of Education has refuted claims of underfeeding students at Government Girls Mega College, Doma. The ministry attributes the complaints, reportedly from some final-year students, to disruptions caused by the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) timetable, which sometimes leads to extended periods without meals.

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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.

Saidu Malala, Special Assistant on Media to the Ministry of Education, insisted that food supplies are not lacking and students receive regular meals. He stated that the state government recently distributed non-perishable food items to all 20 boarding schools to ensure adequate feeding. Malala confirmed that the ministry verified the claims with school authorities and found no evidence of underfeeding.

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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.

Malala explained that the issue arises because the SS3 students' examination schedule often clashes with the school's regular feeding times. For instance, students taking exams starting at 10 a.m. might miss morning meals, and those with afternoon papers may not receive lunch until 5 p.m., though dinner is served around 6:30 p.m. This timing, he noted, is dictated by the examination timetable.

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What happened is that the SS3 students are currently writing their final-year examination, that 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.

The ministry also pointed out that the school's large population of 1,834 students, with approximately 500 in SS3, makes it challenging to prepare separate meals during the examination period. The standard practice is to cook meals collectively, and preparing individual meals for students with conflicting exam schedules is difficult due to logistical constraints.

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Secondly, their second paper is around 12 noon or 1 pm, 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.,