A senior lecturer at the University of Ghana has urged government and policymakers to overhaul Ghana’s education system to ensure that students who excel in sports and practical skills receive equal recognition as their academically inclined counterparts.
Dr. Joshua Jeruntie Zaato of the Department of Political Science made the call during an interview on Breakfast Daily on Channel One TV, stressing that the current system remains skewed towards traditional academic performance.
“The policy we now have is broken, and it doesn’t seem to reward things like sports,” he said. “It is still structured to focus on reading and writing, and again reward nerds and bookworms, and leave people with their skills.”
Dr. Zaato argued that Ghana’s education structure has long failed to appreciate diverse talents, creating a gap that sidelines students gifted in non-academic fields.
“It is not too late. We can change, especially now that we have a different ministry for youth development and a ministry for sports,” he explained. “If we begin to reward people for their skills, then we are closing a very big gap.”
His comments come on the heels of a major sporting achievement by the University for Development Studies (UDS), which was recently crowned champions of the University World Cup Football in China.
UDS overcame a tough challenge in the final against Brazil’s Paulister University. Despite conceding an early goal, the Ghanaian side remained resilient, pushing the match into extra time with a late equalizer.
Their determination paid off when they scored the decisive goal, securing a dramatic 2–1 victory and lifting the trophy.
For Dr. Zaato, this triumph is further proof that Ghanaian youth possess extraordinary talents beyond the classroom, and the education system must evolve to nurture and reward such abilities.
