The Accra Polytechnic students’ hostel has become a mini-supermarket where one can find all kinds of provisions, spices for cooking and mobile telecommunication services, as well as barbering shops. This came to light when The Heritage visited the hostel last Friday, to find out how classes were going on after the polytechnic teachers’ strike which lasted for about three months.

Shockingly, the hostel that was made to accommodate students for them to learn comfortably has become a mini-supermarket, even though there is a school canteen that doubles as a supermarket.

Toilet rolls, toothpaste, sanitary pads, snap cards, sweets, communication center service, cooking oil, maggie cubes, tinned fish, rice, yams and all other items you will find at Makola Market greet you in the halls of residence at Accra Poly. And they are not students’ provisions; they are for sale!

When the paper accosted the owner of the mini-supermarket, she proudly boasted that she never felt the absence of the teachers during the strike because “business was going on well on campus” for her. A final year H.N.D. Secretarial student, who only gave her name as Francisca, added that when it is time for classes, she leaves the shop in the care of her roommates, whom she calls her ‘school daughters’.

The items for sale are displaced at every imaginable space, including wardrobes where students are supposed to keep their clothing, on top of beds and in between beds. It was also gathered that students put their bags on their beds, leaving small spaces for two students to squeeze themselves into sleep.

On the substantive issue of the teachers’ called-off strike, the Heritage observed that some of the classes were empty, with only ten students in an Engineering class where there should have been 50 or more. Though the entire school population is over 2000, only a few students were seen sitting under trees, with others taking it easy as though it was a weekend or holiday.

Meanwhile, some of the students who were interviewed said they were happy that the lecturers had been able to resolve all the problems and are back to teach them, hoping that by today, all the teachers would be in school to teach.