Students On Hunger Strike

The headmistress of Kwahu Ridge Senior High Technical School (KRISHTECH) at Obo-Kwahu in the Kwahu South district of the Eastern region has sacked the entire student body of the school after the students went on a hunger strike, boycotting dining hall food. The students did this to register their displeasure with the kind of food they were being served in the dining hall. The headmistress, Anita Jackson, allegedly organized the district police personnel to ensure the order last Sunday, October 4, after she was able to convince the district education authorities that the students were threatening to demonstrate against her and physically attack her. The District director of Education also gave her the needed support to close down the school to �help save public property�. The Form 2 and Form 3 students, numbering about 600 do not know the fate awaiting them since the new academic year began just two weeks ago. The first years are yet to report for the 2009/2010 academic year. The parent and Teachers Association (PTA) and the Board of Governors of the school are infuriated by the action of the headmistress after she unilaterally sent the students home while their colleagues in other senior high schools are enjoying school sessions. When Daily Guide visited the school on Monday, it looked like a graveyard, completely deserted. Only the shrill voices of birds could be heard on the school compound. Daily Guide�s information has it that the student�s started their �hunger strike� on September 30th after they detected that tins of evaporated milk being served with their breakfast had expired. The headmistress however refused to change the milk, serving the students with only �rocks� or porridge. The students therefore boycotted the food. In the afternoon also, instead of being served with beans and fried plantain, the students were served beans only. The Angry students then registered their displeasure and disapproval with the headmistress style of administration by depositing the food in front of her official bungalow. The growing tension between the students and the headmistress necessitated the intervention of the Board of Governors who, after a lengthy meeting with the student body, appealed to the headmistress to stay at home temporarily while a solution is sought. The headmistress refused and allegedly said she would rather have the whole school closed down.