The recent cruel assault on a student during an inter-school competition in Agona Swedru has shaken public confidence in the safety of school sports. As emotions run high, there have been strong calls for the suspension of inter-school competitions nationwide. While the outrage is understandable, the critical question is this: Should Ghana suspend school sports, or should it reform and regulate them? The answer demands careful reflection, not reaction.
Inter-school sports have long been an integral part of Ghana’s educational system. Beyond competition, they promote discipline, teamwork, leadership, resilience, and emotional control. For many students, sports provide structure, identity, and aspiration. They are also a key pipeline for national talent development. To suspend them entirely would mean punishing thousands of disciplined students for the violent conduct of a few.
However, the fears driving calls for suspension cannot be dismissed. The attack reveals serious gaps in behavioural regulation and event security. When a school competition becomes a scene of brutality, it signals systemic weaknesses: inadequate supervision, insufficient risk assessment, poor crowd control, and a failure to anticipate rivalry tensions. Parents are justified in asking whether their children are safe at official school events.
A temporary pause for safety review may be reasonable. It would allow the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education to conduct a nationwide audit of inter-school competition protocols. But a total suspension would be a blunt instrument that addresses symptoms rather than causes.
The real problem is not sports. The real problem is the erosion of behavioural regulation among some adolescents, compounded by weak enforcement structures. Rising student indiscipline, peer group radicalisation, and poor conflict management have created a volatile environment in some schools. Removing sports does not eliminate aggression; it may simply displace it.
Research in child development consistently shows that structured extracurricular activities reduce delinquency by providing supervision, purpose, and positive peer engagement. If sports are withdrawn without an alternative structure, idle time may increase risk behaviours rather than reduce them. Instead of suspension, Ghana needs reform.
First, inter-school competitions must operate under strict national safety protocols. Mandatory security personnel, controlled student movement zones, clear supervision ratios, and emergency medical presence should become standard requirements. Risk assessments must precede all major school gatherings.
Second, behavioural orientation should be compulsory before competitions. Students must receive clear briefings on codes of conduct, with signed behavioural undertakings involving parents. Schools must emphasise that rivalry does not mean hostility.
Third, disciplinary systems must be strengthened. Violent conduct should be met with swift sanctions, along with corrective and restorative interventions. Parental engagement must move beyond defence of misconduct to shared accountability for behavioural outcomes.
Finally, guidance and counselling units must be empowered to identify and intervene early in cases involving aggressive behavioural patterns. Prevention is always more effective than punishment after harm has occurred.
Globally, countries facing isolated incidents of school violence do not abolish sports programmes. They regulate, secure, and reform them. The lesson is clear: when systems fail, we strengthen systems; we do not dismantle developmental platforms that benefit the majority.
This moment should therefore become a turning point. The tragedy in Agona Swedru must prompt national reform of student behavioural governance and event safety frameworks. It must lead to stronger collaboration between schools, parents, and state institutions.
Ghana must suspend violence, not the opportunity for cohesion. We must regulate behaviour, not eliminate development platforms. And above all, we must ensure that every child can compete, learn, and grow in safety.
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By Al-Hassan Kodwo Baidoo
Educational Leadership and Reform Advocate
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com