Students at Sacred Heart Junior High School in Bolgatanga say they have been reporting to school only to play and return home as the nationwide strike by pre-tertiary teacher unions continues to disrupt teaching and learning in the Upper East Region.
The students say the industrial action has deprived them of valuable instructional time, raising concerns about their preparation for examinations, particularly among final-year students.
“We only come to school to play and go back. Teaching and learning is not going on,” Muniu Ajira, a student of Sacred Heart Junior High School, told Bolga FM.
Another student, Sylvia Ayindosiya, said effective teaching had taken place for only about a week before the teachers embarked on the strike.
She expressed concern that students in the public section of the school were losing valuable instructional time while their colleagues in the private section of the same Catholic institution continued attending classes.
According to her, the disruption could affect their preparation for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
She appealed to the government to urgently address the concerns of the striking teachers to allow academic activities to resume.
Schools across the Bolgatanga Municipality have been affected by the industrial action, with students and parents expressing growing concern about its impact on academic work.
The striking teacher unions have rejected appeals to call off the industrial action, insisting that outstanding concerns, including promotion-related salary arrears and deprived-area allowances, must be addressed.
A parent, Eric Nyaaba, said the prolonged disruption was particularly worrying for final-year Junior High School students preparing for the BECE.
“We don’t have much to say other than to appeal to the government to, as a matter of urgency, address the pressing challenges of the teachers for our children to get back to school and continue learning,” he said.
Mr Nyaaba also expressed concern about differences in access to education between public and private schools during the strike.
He alleged that some public school teachers enrol their own children in private schools while pupils in public schools continue to experience disruptions to learning.
Other students interviewed by Bolga FM also appealed to the government to resolve the dispute, warning that continued disruption could affect their academic performance.
“Please, we are begging the government to help us pay our teachers. Teaching and learning have not been stable for some time now. We have been having talks all the time, but we are still here, and no teaching and learning is going on,” one student said.
“This can seriously affect our academics because we are not learning and examinations are approaching. We are the future generation. We want to learn, make Ghana proud and contribute to the development of the country.”
A Senior High School student also expressed concern about the effect of the strike on final-year students.
“I am from the Upper East Region and I attend Senior High School. Because the teachers have gone on strike, it is affecting us, especially those of us in Form Three who will soon be writing our examinations,” the student said.
“Our teaching and learning is not going on well. It is affecting us because we are not learning. We are therefore calling on the government to pay the teachers so that they can come back to school and teaching and learning can resume.”
The students appealed to the government and teacher unions to reach an agreement that would allow teachers to return to the classroom and restore academic activities.
A1 Radio | 101.1 MHz | Moses Anaba Azubire | Bolgatanga
