The Gombe State Ministry of Education has rejected allegations that students at Government Girls Mega College, Doma, are being underfed, attributing complaints from final year students to disruptions caused by the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination timetable.

Some Senior Secondary School Three students sitting the examination had reportedly complained of missing meals and spending extended hours without food during the examination period, alleging that the schedule had prevented them from accessing meals at their usual times.

Responding to the allegations, the Special Assistant on Media to the Gombe State Ministry of Education, Saidu Malala, insisted that there was no shortage of food at the school and that students were being fed regularly.

Malala disclosed that the state government had recently distributed food supplies to boarding schools across the state to ensure adequate feeding of students.

"Students get food in the morning, afternoon and later in the evening around 5 pm. Recently, we distributed non perishable food items to boarding schools. As you know, we have 20 boarding schools across the state," he stated.

The ministry's spokesman maintained that he had verified the claims with relevant school authorities and found no evidence of underfeeding.

"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 added.

Malala explained that the meal disruptions were a direct consequence of the WAEC examination timetable, which clashes with the school's regular feeding schedule.

"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 am, 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 pm, and they can't receive their lunch till 5 pm. It's because of the examination schedule that they don't receive their lunch until 5 pm, but they receive dinner around 6:30 pm," he explained.

The spokesman further noted that the school's population of 1,834 students, with SS3 accounting for approximately 500, made it logistically difficult to prepare separate meals for examination candidates during the examination period.

"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," Malala added.