FIVE LESSONS EVERY UNIVERSITY IN GHANA MUST LEARN FROM THIS TRAGEDY
FIVE LESSONS EVERY UNIVERSITY IN GHANA MUST LEARN FROM THIS TRAGEDY
By : Honeybrowne Okaakyire
Tragedies often leave behind painful questions, but they can also provide important lessons. The unfortunate loss of a student connected to the University of Cape Coast should encourage universities across Ghana to rethink certain systems.
Below are five key lessons institutions can learn from this incident.
LESSON 1: UNIVERSITY POLICIES MUST ALWAYS PRIORITIZE STUDENT SAFETY
Every university policy should ultimately serve one purpose: protecting and supporting students.
While rules are necessary to maintain discipline and academic standards, they should never create situations where students feel forced to take dangerous risks.
Universities must constantly review their regulations to ensure that they do not unintentionally endanger students.
LESSON 2: HUMAN ERROR IS PART OF LIFE
Students are human beings.
Human beings forget things.
This is especially true during stressful periods such as examinations.
Policies that assume students will never forget their ID cards or other items may unintentionally punish normal human mistakes.
Institutions must therefore create flexible systems that can accommodate occasional errors without compromising academic integrity.
LESSON 3: TECHNOLOGY CAN PROVIDE BETTER SOLUTIONS
The world has changed dramatically in the last two decades.
Today, smartphones, biometric systems, and digital databases provide many alternatives to traditional identification methods.
Universities around the world are already adopting technologies such as:
Digital student ID cards
Facial recognition systems
Fingerprint verification
QR code identification
These technologies make it possible to verify a student's identity within seconds, even if the physical ID card is unavailable.
One of the biggest challenges students face during examinations is panic.
When students fear that forgetting an item could prevent them from writing an exam, the result is often desperate behavior.
Universities must design examination policies that maintain order while also reducing unnecessary panic among students.
For example, allowing temporary identity verification during exams could help prevent students from making dangerous decisions.
LESON 5: EVERY TRAGEDY MUST LEAD TO CHANGE
The most painful aspect of any tragedy is when nothing changes afterward.
If institutions simply move on without learning from incidents like this, the risk of future tragedies remains.
Universities must therefore use this moment as an opportunity to evaluate and improve their systems.
Sometimes the most meaningful way to honor a life lost is to ensure that similar incidents never happen again.
A PERSONAL REFLECTION
As I conclude this reflection, I keep returning to that rainy Friday morning in 2017 when I rushed to deliver my wife's student ID card to her examination hall at the University of Cape Coast.
At that moment, I was simply trying to help my pregnant wife write her exam.
I never imagined that years later, a similar situation would lead to a tragic loss of life for another student.
Our story ended with relief.
But another family's story ended with heartbreak.
That is why conversations like this are important.
Because sometimes, the difference between safety and tragedy lies in how systems are designed.
Universities are places where young people pursue their dreams and prepare for their futures.
Those futures must be protected.
And if this tragedy teaches us anything, it is this:
No examination rule, no administrative policy, and certainly no plastic ID card should ever be worth a human life.
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