In historical parlance, an adage has it that ‘education is the key to success” but gradually it is obvious that this wise saying is losing it strength. Education was one of the highest dreams of every human creature and is still some people’s ambition to attain the highest level of academia. About half a century ago, people in Africa for instance were compelled by their colonial masters to acquire at least basic education.

They made Africans to believe that education can guarantee everything in the world of success but after some decades since its inception, it is becoming apparent that education cannot offer the benefits it promises. One may ask whether we are the bane behind the inability of education to perform its rightful task or education is never the key as we have been made to believe in the past.

 On the other hand, Sports and entertainment were seen as a career for school dropouts and outcasts in the society but as we speak it is gradually becoming one of the prestigious careers to pursue in the world. In Africa for instance, parents never allowed their wards to engage in sporting activities as well as engaging in the field of entertainment. Now there seem to be a turn of events, people now pay bribes and struggle hard to pursue careers in the field of sports and entertainment. The question now is, what is the change in the trend towards both education and sports and entertainment?

 The answer to this is simple; Academicians over the years have failed to introduce activities to improve the standard of education whiles sportsmen and entertainers have ushered in diverse schemes to uplift their image. Examples include premier league, Music Awards, Mentor, to mention but a few. These Programs have gained recognition worldwide and have over the years projected the image of footballers and entertainers.

It may interest you to note that a research conducted by a group called Analytical Thinkers revealed that about seventy percent of the students in Senior High schools in Ghana have a burning desire to enroll into Mentor or MTN Sports Academy than gaining admission into a university.

The issues regarding this have been overlooked but the findings of Analytical thinkers revealed that the Global Financial crisis and credit crunch that have reared its ugly face in the world economy is highly caused by the over concentration of the world on sports and entertainment.

They explained this by saying that, the revenue gained from sports and entertainments do not equate the amount of money invested into it. For instance, when you look at the amount of money some footballers receive as compare to the amount of money doctors receive per match and operation respectively, it is incredible that someone who is saving a human life is receiving a little than someone who is just providing pleasure and fun. To some extent the world as a whole lacks a sense of direction. Also the financial crisis hit Britain more than any other country in the world because in recent times it is noted to be one of the places in the world where football is pursued at the highest level. Footballers are paid more than hundred thousand pounds a week which is unrealistic and this and other factors are what are militating against Britain’s economy but economist have failed to identify it. Today, sports and entertainment occupy about seventy percent of the world’s airwaves. As a result each and every one wants to go into sports and entertainment leaving behind vital careers like nursing, teaching, engineering etc  Even people who are destined to be doctors are being compelled to become sportsmen and entertainers due to it’s appealing and lucrative nature.

In my own perspective I strongly believe that the increasing rate of fraud and ‘sakawa’ are caused by the issue of over concentration of sports and entertainment as against formal education. This is because; people have spent millions of dollars and acquired knowledge which has become useless. People have schooled for more than twenty years and all they get is as little less than hundred dollars a month whiles others train for less than two years as footballers and earn more than hundred thousand dollars a week.

Infact it is unfair and very disheartening. Hence, the scholars have also being using their intelligence to cheat the system through fraudulent means to earn what they dream to earn. It is therefore not surprising that wherever a large number of intellectuals exist there is a higher level of corruption. In Ghana for instance, the people involve in ‘sakawa’ are people who are far advance in computer science, some even hold first class degree in computer science and Information technology. All these people feel that they have acquired knowledge which the society does not pay for as they pay for football and other entertainments.

 In a nutshell, education and sports and entertainment were something which in the past was on a pendulum. At first scholars and people who were in the field of academics were recognize in the society than their other counterparts, but as sportsmen and entertainers pressed over the years they have gotten to the top of the pendulum to the detriment of scholars. Thus, if we do not take a critical look at this situation and amend it, in some years to come there will be no doctors, nurses, teachers etc even if there will, we will not get the quality we wish to discover. I am not in anyway condemning sports and entertainment but what am trying to put forward is to engineer scholars to rise up and fight for their rightful positions and also initiate programs that will uplift their image in the society.

 As Martin Luther King Jnr. said ‘we live in an inescapable network of mutuality tied with a single bond of destiny and no one can claim to be on an island of his own’, with this let us all put our hands on deck and chart a worthy course for achieving greater future for the field of academics and ourselves. Since this issue affect both scholars and sportsmen and entertainers. We all need doctors, teachers, and nurses as well scholars; hence we should not fail to ensure that they are well catered for and given the necessary recognition in the society. And we should also ensure that the over concentration in the field of sports and entertainment is limited and the unreasonable payment of some sportsmen are critically analyzed.

BY:

GERTRUDE ADJOA AIDOO

NEWS REPORTER, ADESUA GLOBAL