Barbados: Students on hunger strike to lift ban on outside food vendors

Some of the students at Grantley Adams Memorial School loudly protesting as a boy holds a card which reads: Reasonable Prices.

(Barbados Nation) Hundreds of students at Grantley Adams Memorial School are on a “hunger strike”.

And they intend to fast for all of the six hours they spend at the Blackman’s, St Joseph school until they are allowed to purchase food from vendors again.

On Monday, principal Valdez Francis banned the children from buying food from outside vendors, ordering them to only purchase from the canteen. He locked all of the school’s gates and stood vigil outside for the lunch hour.

On Tuesday, the upset children told THE NATION the vendors and canteen sold the same thing, but the vendors’ food, such as burgers, chips and fried chicken, were not only significantly cheaper, but also tastier.