The MP for the Binduri Constituency, Abdulai Abanga expressed a high level of surprise that the students would riot over what he thought to be a mundane issue. His comments come after students of the Binduri Community Day Senior High School demonstrated over feeding challenges encountered over the last 2 months.
The Headmaster of Binduri Community Day Senior High School in the Upper East Region, Emmanuel Nabrose, confirmed that first and second-year students staged a protest and halted school activities due to the school caterer’s failure to provide them with food for two consecutive months.
According to Nabrose, the students voiced their discontent and subsequently vacated the school premises on Tuesday, June 11, 2023.
“It is a day school so it is surprising to me that the students took this decision to riot because of the lunch. They would normally be fed in the house before they come to school and after school hours, when they go back home, the normal thing is that when they get to the house, they would be fed. So for them to riot and decide not to study unless we serve them with their hot meal, I think we should advise the students that what they would be losing looking at the number of days they would be out of school.”
Mr. Abanga additionally explained that the management of the school is to blame.
“We have to look at the management of the school because this is an issue; if it were ongoing, the stakeholders’ attention would have been drawn to it. I am sure that if I had heard about it much earlier, I could have followed up,” he said.
The NDC is meanwhile worried about the situation at the Binduri Community Day Senior High School and has said if the government is not proactive, the situation could deteriorate.
The Upper East Regional Communication Officer for the NDC, Jonathan Abdallah Salifu made these comments when he spoke to Mark Smith on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show.
“We all know the situation but they try to cover it up. But now, schools are being closed down and look, if care is not taken, more schools would follow. What has happened in Binduri is setting the pace. I am surprised because this is the constituency of the Regional Minister. As chairman of REGSEC, is he telling me that he did not know that there was a problem, an underground issue that had been raging since 29th May till yesterday? Is that what he is telling me? Then he is not fit to sit there as Minister,” he said.
Additionally, the opposition NDC has not taken kindly to the words of the MP, particularly, the comments of the MP against management of the school.
“You [the government] said you would feed them, so if you can’t feed them, write it to them. How long would it take you to officially write? So tell them that for community day schools, you cannot feed them again. You [the government] owe the caterer for close to a year. Who can run such a business?”
“We demand an apology from him for this statement. We are asking the Honourable MP to apologise to the students, the people of Binduri and management for making such a reckless comment,” he said.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
