By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Binduri (U/E), July 12, GNA – The Binduri Community Day Senior High School in the Upper East Region has been temporarily closed due to food shortage.
The first and second-year students at the school, numbering about 320 students, out of 560 have been asked to stay home until the caterer resumed cooking.
However, the third-year students comprising 240 students who are preparing to write their West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination later this year are still attending classes and academic work is progressing smoothly.
According to authorities of the school, the caterer stopped cooking for the students on May 29, 2023, and it was because she had not been paid and did not have money to buy food to cook for the students.
The students were disappointed and displeased with the situation.
As a result, on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, the first- and second-year students abandoned their classes to register their displeasure to the authorities of the school and government.
They indicated that they would not return to the classroom if the caterer could not cook for them.
Mr John Soka, the Binduri District Director of the Ghana Education Service, confirmed the incident to the Ghana News Agency and said the decision to allow the students to stay home was taken in consultation with the Regional Directorate of the GES, the board and management of the school and the Parents and Teachers Association.
He said it was a common opinion to let the students go home to prevent any riot.
He said the status of the school as a Day School meant that students were entitled to one hot meal (lunch) a day, however, the students had not been fed since May 29, 2023, because the caterer did not have money to cook for them.
According to the District Director, the caterer said she had depleted her funds and had not been paid but informed him that she was mobilising to resume cooking for the students on Monday, July 17, 2023.
“We appealed to students to exercise patience and that cooking will resume on Monday, but they were not ready to go back to the classroom, saying if the cooking does not start today, they will not go back to the classroom.
“Now that they were not ready to attend classes there was no point keeping them in the school because they themselves said they were going home, so we asked them to go home and return on Monday when the caterer is able to come and cook for them,” he added.
GNA