Should school athletes be paid? (No, it creates conflict of interest)

Schools are a good platform for students to develop their talents and know how to use that talent accordingly. Several schools in Rwanda, especially Catholic seminaries, are known to sweep most of the sports trophies they contest while excelling in education too. APE Rugunga came to the limelight when the entire school was picked to represent Rwanda at the U-17 World Cup Championships whereas Ecole Secondaire de Nyemeramihigo has churned out enormous talents like current Amavubi captain Haruna Niyonzima (Yanga FC), football legend and current Police FC coach Jabil Mutarambirwa. These schools deserve a round of applause for their contribution. But it should stop there. No further discussion. What in the world is a school doing paying an athlete for his/her services? Schools have been known to offer scholarships for outstanding athletes which is fine but why should they be paid in monetary terms? When money is brought into the picture, students easily lose their focus because they tend to concentrate more on making money than academic studies. During my secondary school days, athletes were given full scholarships and none of them would repeat a class after failing exams. They had permission to get out of school anyhow and would not be punished. On top of this, they were given a small fee as upkeep. Even at the risk of sounding mean, one out of ten athletes actually made it to university. Now, whereas it would sound like a brilliant idea to award these athletes, schools seldom prepare them for life out of school. A world where no one will easily give them favours, where they will have to compete favourably in all professions and with more capable individuals. As I pointed out above, Catholic schools are very good at grooming athletes but they do this without offering money and insist on academic excellence. Schools have become so much business oriented that they do it at the expense of naïve and young students. Instead of being shown how to grow their talents, they are told how to sell it to the highest bidder. In the end, these young players get a raw deal seeing as there are many talented individuals with diverse skills that get them ahead in life. Sports is not a reliable venture, it has its risks such as injuries, dry spells and age that might hinder a career. It is at this stage that an individual falls back on his education. If he made enough money during his sporting days, he can invest the money wisely. But all this is never achieved; reason being, since they did not invest in education, they did not think of investing the money as well. Most players die paupers at the mercy of the general population yet during their glory-days, they had it together. Schools are supposed to teach students and groom them instead of showing students how to make money the easy way. This is why most players get over their heads and squander all their money without restraint. They start to see schools as a source of money rather than education. Besides, the value of a non athletic student will not be equal to that of an athlete, hence (students) will begin to think that sports overrule education and I don’t think it is something we want on our hands.