Nowadays, there is something profoundly unsettling about sending a child to Senior High School with the expectation that the school will be a place of learning, discipline and character formation, only for that child to become a victim of violent confrontation involving a fellow student.
The situation is steadily progressing; however, it has not garnered the requisite attention from successive administrations. The disturbing incidents reported from some of Ghana's Senior High Schools in recent years suggest that this is no longer a matter that can be dismissed as ordinary teenage mischief or youthful exuberance.
A retrospective account of recent instances is essential to gain a comprehensive appreciation of the menace at hand. In September 2024, an 18-year-old final-year student of O'Reilly Senior High School in Accra, Edward Borketey Sackey, was reportedly stabbed multiple times during an altercation with a schoolmate on campus and subsequently died. The reported disagreement was extraordinarily mundane: an argument over whose father was wealthier. The police arrested a fellow student in connection with the incident, and to date it has been in comatose without any strong combative policy directions, to the best of my knowledge.
The danger is not hypothetical; on April 4, 2025, a 16-year-old second-year student of Adventist Senior High School in Kumasi reportedly brought a locally manufactured pistol loaded with a BB cartridge to school. The firearm discharged during an exchange with classmates and injured another student. Police subsequently arrested the juvenile and recovered the spent cartridge. The student reportedly told investigators that he had taken the weapon from his father's bedroom without his father's knowledge. This incident should force us to confront a disturbing question: if a firearm can find its way into an SHS classroom, how adequately are we protecting our children?
Again, it was barely three months later, in July 2025, that another tragic event occurred, leaving many heartbroken and deeply affected. A first-year student of Kinbu Senior High School in Accra, Addib Alhassan, was fatally stabbed during an altercation with a schoolmate. He was reportedly rushed first to Adabraka Polyclinic and subsequently to Ridge Hospital, where he died. The usual thing: the incident was condemned publicly as a tragic and senseless act of violence.
Then, in February 2026, a student of Koforidua Senior High Technical School was reportedly attacked with a machete during disturbances connected to the Eastern Regional Inter-Schools Sports Festival. The student sustained a deep wound to the shoulder and required hospital treatment. A teacher was also reportedly injured during the wider disturbances.
In the same February 2026, students of Obrachire Senior High Technical School and Swedru School of Business were involved in a violent confrontation during district athletics games. A student of Obrachire was reportedly attacked with stones and sticks and hospitalised. The same report referred to the recent Koforidua stabbing and sanctions against Nkawie Senior High Technical School following attacks involving several schools during an athletics competition.
These are not statistics in the conventional sense. They are individual cases. It’s concerning to see that this problem seems to affect more than just a few individual students. There are instances when even a single death becomes a statistic that cannot be easily disregarded, resulting in a notable increase in tension and hostility. It is happening live in all our second cycle institutions unabated.
THE FIRST WHAMMY: When a School Dispute Becomes a Matter of Life and Death
The most disturbing aspect of some of these cases is how ordinary the initial disagreements appear to be - a boast, an argument, a misunderstanding, a rivalry, a disagreement during sporting activities and other social frictions. These are inevitably everyday occurrences among young people.
The alarming aspect of these situations lies in the potential for ordinary disagreements to escalate into violent confrontations involving various weapons, including stones, sticks, knives, machetes, and firearms. Such transformations elevate the issue of school discipline to a critical concern for national security and child protection.
The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) itself raised an alarm in February 2025 about what it described as increasing acts of indiscipline in some second-cycle schools. GNAT referred to incidents including the use of a machete in the punishment of junior students at Accra Academy, violent clashes among schools in Accra and Kumasi, the killing of the O'Reilly SHS student, vandalism, demonstrations and other violent episodes. GNAT called for an immediate antidote to what it described as wanton behaviour in schools.
That word ‘antidote’ is particularly important because Ghana needs one. No one should take this as an attack on Ghanaian students but must see reasons with this important one point made.
The overwhelming majority of Ghanaian students are not violent. Every year, thousands of young Ghanaians pass through our Senior High Schools without committing serious offences. They study, compete in academic contests, participate in sports, serve their communities and go on to become doctors, teachers, engineers, entrepreneurs, lawyers, scientists and public servants.
Ghanaian students continue to demonstrate extraordinary talent. The concern, therefore, is not that our children are inherently violent. The concern is that a small number of dangerous incidents can have disproportionately devastating consequences, often resulting in cries of “Had I known,” which are always too late.
One weapon can change a family forever. One confrontation can terminate a promising education. One moment of uncontrolled anger can turn a schoolmate into a victim and another young person's future into a legal nightmare. The response should prioritise preventive measures instead of solely punitive actions. It is essential to encourage stakeholders to adopt a proactive approach rather than a reactive one.
The questions we must ask are commonsense. Thus, when a student carries a dangerous weapon onto a school campus, what should happen? When two groups of students begin fighting, who should intervene? When a credible threat is made against another student, who responds? When violence erupts at night in a boarding school, who provides immediate professional security?
These questions highlight a critical issue: “Should we expect teachers and school administrators to assume the entire responsibility for campus security?” The response to this question should be no. Teachers are educators who are primarily focused on teaching and fostering student development. Headmasters are school administrators who play a vital role in managing the overall educational environment. Housemasters, housemistresses and other school staff have important welfare and supervisory responsibilities as well. But they are not professional police officers to guarantee full security.
When a situation involves a dangerous weapon, an immediate threat to life or serious criminal conduct, professional law enforcement may be required (The Next Whammy).
To be continued…
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