Education think tank, Africa Education Watch, has advised Rasta students to consider enrolling in another school. The education think-tank advice comes after the Accra High Court ruling which ordered Achimota School to admit the two Rastafarian students as a “win for the right to education”.
In an interview on Campus Exclusive from Radio Universe, the Senior Research Fellow with Africa Education Watch, Divine Kpe, said there is no need for school rules to be used to obstruct one’s quest to access education.
He called on the Education Ministry and the Ghana Education Service to use the rulling of the High Court as the basis for harmonizing all school rules and regulations in the country at the Senior High School Level.
“As we have said, it is a win for right to education and a step in the right direction so that we can use this ruling to see how best we can synchronize some of our school rules and regulations that seem not to be in order and we can have a holistic inclusive education that we have all been advocating for,” he said.
Rasta students advised to go to another school
He furthered that although the High Court has ordered Achimota School to admit the two Rastafarian students, it will be best if they looked for admission into other schools as they risk being victimized at Achimota School.
“Tyrone’s court case winning is just a good step that will be used to resolving several issues regarding policy in our school so I believe if this is done and he decides not to go to that school and go to another school…
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“…that is best because I foresee that the child may not even have the best of school environment, the best of school climate for his studies so for me the ideal thing to do if I were the parent is to look for another school for him,” he added.
A cross-section of Ghanaians is worried that, if through this landmark case, the Rastafarian students are admitted, it will “open the floodgates” for other religious demands by another sect of religious groupings. He felt this was not going to lead to that.
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He explained that those demands should they arise would be evaluated on the threat it poses to other stakeholders in the schools.
“Anything that somebody comes to school with on religious grounds, if that thing does not poses a threat to education, it does not pose any threat to the child’s health, it does not pose any threat to that of the colleagues as well I don’t see it as an issue that we should be having challenges with,” he stressed.