The woes of students in Senior High Schools have worsened in the past few weeks.

Initially, there were complaints across the country about inadequate food buffers to augment feeding under the flagship Free SHS programme.

This situation was aggravated after four major teacher unions decided to lay down their tools over demands for Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).

Today, the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) is holding a crucial meeting to discuss the impact of these developments.

JoyNews' Samuel Mbura reported that the teachers are calling on the Education Ministry to expedite action on the requests tabled before it.

He was reporting from the St Thomas Aquinas SHS where the meeting is underway behind closed doors.

The teachers say the allowance will help to mitigate the impact of the rising cost of living in the country.

At the campus in Accra, students were seen without any supervision from tutors due to the industrial action.

The JoyNews team also visited the Labone Senior High School. Information gathered there indicates that they had not been affected by the shortage of food.

This comes at a time when over 27,000 workers in the public sector say they can no longer shoulder the burden brought onto them by the prevailing economic hardship in the country.

The Public Services Workers’ Union (PSWU) has served notice of its intention to embark on industrial action on Tuesday, July 19, to demand a 20% COLA.

Staff of about 69 public sector institutions have, therefore, decided to put to vote a motion on whether or not to lay down their tools as a result of the situation.