The Double Whammy: The 24-Hour Economy as an Antidote to the Rising Atrocities And Weapon-Related Violence in Our Senior High Schools (continuation...)

Security without education is inadequate. Education without security is vulnerable. We need both.

The Pros of the Proposal and the Corresponding Reality Checks: A Comprehensive Re-examination.

The 24-hour economy could create a double dividend, where the real strength of the proposal lies in recruiting additional police officers for a 24-hour economy would not simply create jobs but could create a social dividend.

One additional officer represents employment, and a properly deployed team represents security. A secure school represents confidence for parents, and a secure environment represents better conditions for teachers. The ultimate is that a safe student represents the preservation of Ghana's human capital. That is a double dividend

The double whammy is this: job creation plus child protection. But for a start, the sensible thing for government to do is to pilot. The Ghana Police Service and Ghana Education Service could jointly identify schools using objective risk indicators such as: student population, boarding population, history of serious violent incidents, proximity to known conflict hotspots, history of inter-school violence, campus accessibility, night-time security vulnerabilities, and local crime patterns.

A pilot could then be implemented in selected schools across different regions. After one academic year, the results could be evaluated. Has weapon-related violence declined? Have serious incidents decreased? How many interventions occurred? How quickly did officers respond? Do students feel safer? Do teachers feel safer? Do parents have greater confidence? Has the presence of officers improved or damaged the relationship between students and law enforcement? These are measurable questions. Policy should be driven by evidence.

The double whammy must not become another problem with these legitimate concerns overlooked. Where will the officers live? Who pays for their accommodation? Will they be adequately trained to work with minors? What happens when a student makes a false report? How will police intervention be reconciled with school disciplinary procedures? How will students' rights be protected? How will officers themselves be supervised? What happens when a school is located in a community that already has inadequate police coverage?

These questions must be answered before implementation. The 24-hour economy should never become an excuse for indiscriminate police deployment or excessive policing of children. The policy must be child-sensitive, intelligence-led, professionally supervised and legally accountable.

We have been warned; perhaps the most important evidence is not any single stabbing accumulation of warnings. GNAT has publicly called for urgent action on SHS indiscipline. The National Peace Council has undertaken specific interventions on student violence and lawful conflict resolution. Recent cases have included a fatal stabbing at O'Reilly SHS, a fatal stabbing at Kinbu SHS and a machete attack involving a Koforidua SECTECH student.

The incidents should not be exaggerated into a claim that Ghanaian schools are universally unsafe. But neither should they be minimised. A responsible nation does not wait for a pattern to become a catastrophe before responding. The policy should therefore be challenged to demonstrate that its benefits extend beyond factories and commercial enterprises.

The saddest headline is that a quarrel between children ended with one child dead and another facing a lifetime of consequences. We can do better. The solution will not be found in policing alone. It will require parents, teachers, counsellors, school administrators, traditional leaders, religious bodies, students, the Ghana Education Service, the Ghana Police Service and the Ministry of Education working together. But professional security has a place in that architecture. And the 24-hour economy may provide the opportunity to build it. But Ghana has an opportunity to turn the two problems into one solution.

If the 24-hour economy is truly about making better use of Ghana's human resources, infrastructure and time, then our children should be among the greatest beneficiaries of that vision. Because Ghana's most valuable investment is not a factory that operates 24 hours. It is the young Ghanaian who will one day operate that factory.

It's undeniable to note here that before that child becomes the engineer, teacher, doctor, entrepreneur, scientist, police officer, or national leader Ghana needs, we must first ensure that the child survives school. That is the double whammy we must confront—and the double dividend we must seize. 

But the crunching fact still remains that every diligent parent prioritises the safety of their child at school and would rather allocate funds toward enhancing security measures than face the potential consequences of financial limitations that hinder the government from adopting this important proposal.