Gombe Denies Students Underfeeding Allegation, Blames WAEC Timetable

The Gombe State Ministry of Education has denied claims that students of Government Girls Mega College, Doma, are being underfed, insisting that what some final-year students experienced was a disruption linked to the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) timetable.

Reports had emerged that some Senior Secondary School Three (SS3) candidates complained of missing meals and remaining without food for long hours during the examination period, allegedly due to clashes between the WAEC timetable and the school’s feeding schedule.

However, the Ministry has firmly dismissed the allegation, saying there is no evidence of underfeeding in any of its boarding schools.

Speaking in a telephone interview, the Special Assistant on Media to the Gombe State Ministry of Education, Saidu Malala, maintained that students are fed regularly and that the state has recently reinforced food supply to boarding institutions.

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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,” he said.

Malala added that after internal checks with relevant school authorities, the ministry found no indication of food shortage or negligence in feeding arrangements.

“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,” he stated.

According to him, the complaints were largely a result of timing conflicts between WAEC examinations and the school’s normal feeding routine.

“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,” he explained.

He further noted that students are unable to access meals during examination hours, which creates the perception of delayed feeding.

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“Unfortunately, they can’t eat then until they are through with the first paper. 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.,” Malala added.

He also pointed out that the large student population at Government Girls Mega College, Doma—about 1,834 students, with roughly 500 in SS3—makes it operationally difficult to prepare separate meals for examination candidates during the period.

“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,” he explained.

The Ministry maintained that feeding arrangements remain consistent across boarding schools in the state, stressing that the situation is a scheduling challenge rather than a case of neglect or inadequate welfare.

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