Anomabo Community Pleads For Government Action As Teacher Strike Pushes Children Into Streets And Sea
By Dominic Duut | Noblenews
The ongoing nationwide strike by pre-tertiary teacher unions is taking a heavy toll on coastal communities in the Central Region, with children in Anomabo in the Mfantseman Municipality bearing the brunt.
On what should be a busy school morning in Anomabo, the classrooms are empty while the streets are filled with schoolchildren loitering, riding bicycles aimlessly through alleys and engaging in hazardous activities.
A visit by Oyerepa TV’s Nana Mankata to the community revealed a worrying situation where children, left without supervision due to the absence of teachers, are taking on dangerous tasks.
Some of the children were seen carrying heavy gallons of premixed fuel across town – a risky chore for young ones who should be in class holding pencils and reading books.
More alarming is the situation at the beach, where unsupervised children have turned the Atlantic Ocean into their playground, swimming in the turbulent and treacherous waves – a perilous activity that has left parents living in fear.
Parents who spoke to Oyerepa TV said the prolonged industrial action is causing a breakdown in discipline and exposing their children to severe risks, including accidents, bad peer influence and child labour.
According to them, since the strike began on September 25, their children have been at home with no academic activity, while the streets and beaches have become their classrooms.
The distraught parents are therefore making a passionate appeal to government and the striking teacher unions – GNAT, NAGRAT and CCT-GH – to immediately resolve their differences and return to the negotiation table.
They warned that every day the strike lingers puts both the future and the lives of their children on the line.
“We are pleading with government to listen to the teachers and solve this problem. Our children are suffering, they are going to the sea, carrying fuel and roaming the town. Before tragedy strikes, government must act,” a worried parent said.
The parents say until an agreement is reached, the safety, education and moral upbringing of children in Anomabo remain in serious jeopardy.
