The Techiman Divisional Police Command in the Bono East Region has beefed up police presence at the Krobo College of Nursing and Midwifery Training in the Techiman North District of the region to maintain law and order.
The action of the police followed street protests embarked on by the students at the college in the early hours of Monday.
The aggrieved students boycotted classes and hit the streets of the town to register their displeasure over what they described as poor management, demanding the transfer or removal of Mrs Helen Gifty Dwamena Amoah, the Principal of the College.
They extended the protest to the principal streets of Kenten and Techiman and later presented a petition to the Techiman North District Directorate of Education.
In the petition, they said the principal allegedly abused her office, misappropriating the College’s funds and thereby depriving the students of quality meals, potable drinking water and other essential needs.
The petition expressed concern about an alleged collection of unapproved fees, justifying that last semester some of them paid GHC1,700 for feeding, and the College authority had since not been able to account for the money.
It noted that the college’s academic calendar was also different from that of the College of Health Training Institutions in the country.
A copy of the petition made available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), expressed concern about poor feeding and students’ welfare, as well as the lack of library service for references and to aid research.
It noted that: “Cancellation of breakfast for the students has equally affected us since we go to lectures on empty stomachs and that is negatively affecting our health and concentration”.
“We have paid for a lot of learning materials like the breast watch, textbooks, uniforms, thermometers, blood pressure apparatus and name tags, but the school has since refused to supply us with these items,” the petition added.
It called for the immediate removal of the college principal.
Some of the students who spoke to the GNA on condition of anonymity blamed the Principal of the College for the appalling situation at the institution, stressing that it was impeding effective teaching and learning.
“The food we eat is not enough and very poor as well and we are suffering under this woman’s bad administration,” another student added.
Some staff members at the College also secretly spoke to the GNA, describing the principal’s style of administration as one of “dictatorship and despot”.
Several efforts made by the GNA to contact Mrs Dwamena for her reaction were unsuccessful.
GNA
