Police allegedly slap Jasikan College of Education SRC President as students protest poor quality of meals served them

The SRC president of Jasikan College of Education was allegedly slapped by the police as aggrieved students protest the quality of meals served them.

The students have complained several times to the management of the college but nothing has been done.

On Tuesday 15th and 16th August this year, the students were again served Koko without bread, sugar and bread.

The students then refused to go for the food and went after their SRC president to help them address the situation.

The demonstration was fueled by various concerns raised by the students as they felt the management of the college were not addressing them.

One of the main concerns raised by the third years students is about the quality of the meals served in the dining hall.

They alleged that the quality of the meal did not meet their expected nutritional value.

The SRC president Freeman Zokah said they were served with porridge without bread, sugar and milk.

“We have been given white porridge without sugar, bread, or groundnut since the beginning of the year. The porridge is sometimes fermented. So we protested against the poor foods we are being fed with. We are told feeding grants have not been paid, but we know it has been paid. The school management said they don’t take information from students when we made complaints to them. The protest was not only about the food, lights at the ladies’ dormitories had been disconnected. We are going through a lot,” he stated.

He added that GH¢51 has been taken off their monthly allowances to augment the allocated feeding grants.

The protest resulted in the assault of their Students' Representative Council (SRC) president Mr Freeman Zokah.

The students also alleged mistreatment by the management of the college and have also denied some students of writing their exams because they have not trimmed their bear.

Frustrated by the lack of addressing the situation, the students were called to a meeting which they believed would have been the way out to addressing their challenge through dialogue and resolution. Whiles the situation was to be addressed, the student claimed they were met with threats and intimidation by the management of the college during the meeting resulting in some of them leaving the meeting venue.

In response to this situation, the management of the college called the law enforcement officers, the police to intervene in the matter. The arrival of the police raised tension leading to a clash between the aggrieved students and the police.

Amidst the chaos, the SRC president Freeman Zokah was allegedly assaulted by a police officer. Some of the students alleged that Zokah was treated like a common criminal which only served to worsen the situation.

The students are therefore calling on the national leadership of the colleges of education and stakeholders to intervene and address the situation before it leads to chaos.

As of the time of filing this report, the management of the college has not responded to the plight of the trainees.