Students At War In Public As Though There Are No Elders In Town

Ghanaian authorities are pretending to be unaware of the several months of the free-for-all violent street fights among secondary school students in the open streets of Accra.

The students involved have become emboldened enough to video their acts of violence and publish same all over social media.

They are not masked. They do not hide their school uniforms or badges. They do not fear being tracked and identified.

They have declared war in a supposed lawful society governed by rules and nothing has stopped them so far. Perhaps nothing can stop them.

Innocent students have been slashed. Many more have been stabbed. Many many more have been violently assaulted and beaten to pulp by a mob of students yet no one in authority seems to be concerned enough to raise the matter as a national crisis.

We do not want to be tempted to think that the powers that be are waiting for reports that the fights have led to deaths before they start to take action.

The fights which started as heckling and bragging rights among rival schools have blown into a full scale civil war and the use of knives, machetes, sticks and other forms of harmful weapons, with many innocent victims being injured and rushed to several hospitals yet the development has not become a national concern.

We seem carried away by our interest in petty partisan politics and a never ending debate about whether or not consenting adults who have same sex in the privacy of their rooms should be jailed.

The ongoing students’ war is both nasty and scary. It is disappointing that the powers that be have stood akimbo with a gleeful glee on their chubby faces.

It exposes what our society has become. It exposes the lack of discipline among students these days. It reveals the lack of pride and respect students should have for their school uniforms and their school crests.

It even brings to question the sort of homes these students come from and why they do not care whether or not their parents see the video recordings that capture them partake in such open street fights.

It raises worry about the type of leaders our society is preparing for tomorrow.

But in all honesty, THE NEW PUBLISHER is not surprised. We are disappointed but cannot be surprised at the behaviour of the students because after all, how many times have we not seen our leaders in society resorting to violence and open confrontation as a means to resolve misunderstandings.

If as a society, we have glorified such acts of violence in the name of partisan politics, then we should not be surprised at the students and their silly behaviour.

What we should not forget is that these same students we are unable to call to order today, would in the near future turn extend their nonsense to state officials and other authorities.

A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.