WASSCE is over. The exams are done. So why are school compounds turning into exhibition centers for luxury cars, cash bundles, and designer gifts?
Let’s be clear: parents can buy their children whatever they want. A car, a trip, a party. That’s your business. But the school gate is not your personal red carpet.
Free SHS was introduced in 2017 to remove financial barriers to education. It was built to give every Ghanaian child a fair shot. Using the same school compound to stage extravagant displays sends the wrong message to the public that made that policy possible. That’s insulting.
And it’s cruel. For every student stepping into a luxury car on camera, another is walking home in silence, forced to process why his parents couldn’t pull off a convoy. Schools are supposed to be equalizers. These spectacles turn them into scoreboards for parental wealth. That’s not celebration. That’s public humiliation for students who have less.
Beyond the pressure, it’s chaos. Teachers spend three years enforcing discipline, only for WASSCE week to end with blocked gates, blaring horns, and drones over classrooms. A place of learning shouldn’t look like a music video set.
Celebrate your child. You absolutely should. But do it at home. Host the party in your compound. Hand over the keys in your living room.
The school gave your child an education. Don’t repay it by turning it into a showroom.
The classroom made them equal. Let them leave with that dignity intact.
