{"id":116495,"date":"2026-02-23T08:02:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T08:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=116495"},"modified":"2026-02-23T08:02:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T08:02:33","slug":"crime-trends-in-schools-will-worsen-if-preventive-systems-arent-modernised-kofi-tonto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=116495","title":{"rendered":"Crime trends in schools will worsen if preventive systems aren\u2019t modernised \u2014Kofi Tonto"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Political aide to Dr Bawumia, Kofi Tonto has warned that violent incidents and hooliganism among senior high school students will continue \u2014 and possibly intensify \u2014 unless education and security authorities modernise their approaches to prevention and discipline.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the AM\u00a0Show on JoyNews, Mr Tonto argued that as Ghanaian youth increasingly access sophisticated technology and global media, crime \u201cwill also advance,\u201d and traditional disciplinary systems are no longer sufficient.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we modernise and advance, crime will also advance. The degree of violence will advance. It is natural,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, how are we also putting in place the procedures and mechanisms to combat them?\u201d<\/p>\n

His remarks come amid rising concerns over violent behaviour during school sporting events and competitions across the country.<\/p>\n

At a Regional Super Zonal Sports Competition held from February 4\u20136, 2026, the Ghana Education Service (GES) confirmed a stabbing and an alleged gang-rape involving students from different senior high schools in the Eastern Region. The service condemned the acts and said they \u201chave no place within the Ghana Education Service.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, GES banned Koforidua Senior High Technical School, New Juaben Senior High School and New Nsutam Senior High Technical School from all sports, debates, cadetting and entertainments for two years and fined each school GH\u00a2500 for \u201cacts of hooliganism.\u201d<\/p>\n

More recently, a District Schools Athletics Games in Agona Swedru on February 19 also ended in violence, with a student from Obrachire Senior High Technical School hospitalised after being pelted with stones and beaten with sticks during a clash with peers from the Swedru School of Business. Police have launched an investigation into the incident, which was captured in viral social media footage and widely condemned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis pattern is worrying,\u201d Mr Tonto said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t advance your preventive methods of combating crime, these things will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

He questioned the adequacy of current GES rules, asking whether they are \u201cmodern enough\u201d to address the scale and sophistication of today\u2019s student violence. Mr Tonto also cautioned against over-emphasis on traditional solutions such as teacher-to-student ratios without professional training in crowd management and intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to bring people who are professionally trained to engage them in a professional manner,\u201d he said, suggesting that police, National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) officers and security personnel could play roles in preventive oversight.<\/p>\n

Mr Tonto also highlighted the influence of social media and international crime videos, suggesting that exposure may shape some young people\u2019s behaviour.<\/p>\n

\u201cA young Ghanaian sitting in Ghana sees that level of sophisticated crime\u2026 What do you think that young person who has a terrible mens rea will do? They will learn that as a new way of committing crime,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Referencing scholar Ali Mazrui, he warned of \u201cWesternisation without real modernisation\u201d \u2014 adopting technology and cultural influences without building the institutional capacity to manage their effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t take that step of deliberately modernising to match the level of sophistication of our young people, trust me, this is going to get worse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Political analyst Kofi Tonto has warned that violent incidents and hooliganism among senior high school students will continue \u2014 and possibly intensify \u2014 unless education and security authorities modernise their approaches to prevention and discipline.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the AM\u00a0Show on JoyNews, Mr Tonto argued that as Ghanaian youth increasingly access sophisticated technology and global media, crime \u201cwill also advance,\u201d and traditional disciplinary systems are no longer sufficient.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,491,7303,1883,10,9,2914],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime","category-education","category-kofi-tonto","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-shs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116495\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}