As the teacher's strike drags on, students at the Walewale Senior High Technical School in the West Mamprusi Municipality of the North East Region are being forced to assume the duties of the school caterers by making their own meals in the dining hall.
The students were spotted eating rice and beans when GhanaWeb visited the school campus during their lunchtime.
Due to the school caterers' strike with the teachers, the students have formed a food committee to prepare their meals in their place.
The committee members, ranging from Form one to three, expressed their uneasiness.
They lamented that they spend much of their time in the dining hall rather than doing academic activities.
The students added that they are also compelled to fetch water, wash the dining hall bowls, and prepare the food at the same time with the help of only two caterers.
Some of the students in the second year, who spoke to GhanaWeb, said that they are always exhausted after taking on the responsibilities of the school caterers by waking up at about 4 AM to go to the dining hall for the preparation of food for their colleagues.
"It is really affecting us very badly. We come to the dining hall, the kitchen, to prepare food somewhere around 4 0'clock in the morning and by 2 0'clock PM we are done or 4 pm. When we get back to the dormitory, we are always are tired and exhausted. So we cannot learn anymore, we just have to bathe and go to bed. The day has been exhausted without you learning anything. It is really affecting us", one of the students lamented.
A final-year student in an interview with GhanaWeb stressed that they will be compelled to leave the campus if the strike continues to bite.
"As a final year student, frankly speaking, the strike has not helped us at all. Because final-year students have to find ways and means to sit with some of the form twos to prepare our own food and this is actually affecting us. After this place, you will go and rest for a while before you can go to preps, or else if you go to preps, you will sleep. If they should stop cooking and then we too are fed up, we will be compelled to go home, and this will not help us. We are appealing to the government to call off the strike," a final-year student appealed.
The students are saying that the government should settle the demands of the teachers so that they can return to the classroom for extensive academic activities
The students have formed a committee to help with food preparations