An institution responsible for research and advocacy for the voiceless called Baraka Policy Institute (BPI) has concluded that Sports betting has been the leading factor affecting school attendance in Ghana.
The survey has shown instances of students and other under-aged children flooding some of these sports betting centers to participate in the operations of the betting companies.
The report put together by the BPI has spotlighted how these betting centers were strategically springing up near educational institutions.
However, the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, after meeting the BPI at the weekend, has therefore initiated plans to meet the Gaming Commission of Ghana to discuss how to manage the surging of betting centers near educational institutions.
According to the minister, the said meeting would also bring other stakeholders together to look at regulations guiding the age of people who go to such gaming centers since the involvement of children in such games posed a threat to their education and training.
He was upbeat that meeting the Gaming Commission and other stakeholders could bring about the possibility of bringing sanity into the betting space so that school children would be prevented from participating or involving themselves in such a game.
Dr. Adutwum stated that the development of education required the collective effort of all stakeholders and called on all stakeholders to contribute their quota towards the transformation of the country.
He listed the various reforms currently taking place within the education space and said everything possible was being done to get the best for the nation’s education.
The Head of Research at the BPI, Dr. Adam Yunus, described as unfortunate the infringing of the laws regulating the betting space such as the 500 meters proximity barrier in the Gaming Commission Act 721.
He appealed to the Education Minister as a matter of urgency to help curb the springing up of such betting centers around SHSs in the country.
He further appealed to all stakeholders in the country to come on board to help end the impunity around the springing up of all forms of illegal facilities around schools so that the students would have a peaceful environment to study.
