The Ministry of Education has declared every last day of February as ‘My Chocolate Day at School.’
The annual event which will be held as a sequel to the National Chocolate Day Celebration, is to imbibe the habit of cocoa consumption into school children in the country.
As part of the day, the Ministry with its collaborating partners would provide all basic schools in the country free cocoa products including; Chocolate and Milo.
Launching the initiative at the Dzorwulu Special School in Accra yesterday, Reverend NtimFordjour said the day formed part of government’s agenda of making cocoa consumption a regular feature of Ghanaian meals.
He said the initiative for this year focused on the 28 special schools in the country due to the special needs of the students in these schools.
He said next year, the initiative would be upscaled to cover all public basic schools in the country.
Rev Fordjour explained that apart from inculcating the habit of consuming cocoa among the youth, it was also to show love and care for the youth of the country.
He said it had been proven scientifically that cocoa contained a lot of nutrients that aids not only in the growth of children, but also promoted the mental needs of children.
This is the reason why people were encouraged to make cocoa part of their daily meals.
He noted that as part of the government’s overall education agenda, everything possible would be done to ensure inclusiveness and this included the nutritional needs of the students.
The Minister said the government was and would continue to do a lot for the development of education in the country.
He said the choice of the special schools as the start of the initiative was to demonstrate the government’s commitment to promoting inclusive education in the country.
The Headteacher of the Dzorwulu Special School, Mr Frederick Tetteh expressed his gratitude to the government for selecting his school for the launch of the initiative.
He noted that the introduction of cocoa to the youth would enable them to cultivate the habit of consuming not just cocoa but a product which had become a symbol of the Ghanaian identity.
He expressed the hope that, the initiative would go a long way to make cocoa consumption a part of the daily meals of Ghanaians.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
