The Togolese national soccer team refused previously to play for their country in the 2006 World Cup
because of their government's failure to meet their financial demands.
In the ongoing
National Science & Maths Quiz competition, St. Peter's School is doing what may be termed "a Togo."
The school's "best science contestant" has refused to appear in Accra for the competition because of
their headmaster's reluctance to take care of their financial needs, which is very unfortunate.
The boy is in Kumasi with his family and has said he will NOT come to Accra, where the school with the
envied motto ("Dignitati Hominum") needs him to help them get past a tough Aburi Girls
side in the first-round, with Prempeh College waiting around for a potential semi-final clash.
With 50 million cedis -- the highest ever cash award -- and a brand new school bus at stake, the Percobas
will be better served if the Headmaster gets his act in order. The fact that it is being held at the University of Ghana, with
Legon professors (i.e., the question writers) sitting there ensures that there will be no suspicion of "awam."
When will Headmaster's in Ghana realise that students are NOT obligated to represent any school? With the introduction of the new
WASSCE schedule, the quiz is held in June -- a time when all the contestants have completed their exam and graduated! As a fresh graduate, a
headmaster cannot expect a child to commit himself to a school based purely on an offer of gari and beans. Do Ghanaian school masters expect these graduates
to use their own funds to travel and starve on the school's behalf? Traveling on our dangerous roads with no travel or health insurance and yet they are expected
to live on very little funds or sponsor themselves when they could be enjoying a great meal in their parents home.
The case is even worse for those sportsmen who sacrifice their physical health for their alma maters -- like Prempeh's form 3 boys are doing in the Milo football
competition -- and still not get even a thank you because of the outrageous sense of entitlement that these school masters have.
These headmasters must realise that we are in the 21st century now; the students of today live in a democracy where they are very cognizant
of their rights. The students of today are emancipated, unlike their Gold Coast counterparts.
