Students of Mando Senior High Technical School (SHTS) in the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District of the Central Region, have bemoaned the poor quality of meals served to them during dining sessions.
According to the students, they used to be served quality meals in the past, however, things have changed now as they sometimes do not get served any meals during the weekends.
Speaking in an interview with Class FM’s Nana Tawiah, some of the students explained their current plight:
“Our dining situation is bad. In the mornings, we are served tea, for lunch ‘egbeme’ and for supper, rice water. You can see the rice under the water, no sugar, so you have to take your own sugar.”
“The tea is so light, if it pours in your uniform, you can use it to wash the uniform. The dining situation is very poor, so we’re appealing to government to come to our aid,” a female student explained.
Another female student said: “We haven’t been served any good food since last month. The day, we’ll get some solid food, will be days they serve Kenkey, no fish, even if they add fish, the stew is more than water, one mackerel for two tables or 20 people. Even if it’s once in a while. The food is bad, and it’s insufficient.”
“We’re served only liquid food thrice a day, they must at least serve solids.”
Another female student indicated that due to the poor quality of meals served, the students fall sick frequently and have to go home.
“Sometimes, they give us tea in the morning, in the afternoon too when you’re expecting solid food, you get there and they ask you to go for your cups, they serve you tea again. In the evening too, you get there and they serve you oblayo or rice water, the rice water too, you can pour the water away and add pepper to it to eat. The situation is bad.
“Mando Senior High Technical, we’re pleading with government and the authorities, in the name of God to help our school. We’re suffering. There are some among us who do not have money, since morning they have been sitting around starving.
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“The tea is so light, lots of people are falling sick and have to go home. We plead with government to help us otherwise when school vacates and we go back home, we’ll not return to school again.”
The students also bemoaned the inability of some of their parents to understand their plights, as it is believed that government is catering for them under the current free Senior High School (SHS) programme.
“Our mothers too think when you come to school, you eat well, so when you call to ask them for money or bring you food, they’ll be saying, ‘aren’t you the ones who are being catered for by government, why again are you calling for food or money.’ They really do not understand our situation,” one of the students stated.
Another student added: “When we came previously, they used to serve us Jollof and sausage.
“There’s no money when you ask your mum for money, it takes about a week to arrive, when it comes too, you have a lot of bills to pay because you’re owing people and have to pay for the extra classes or that.”