The Executive Secretary of the Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has blamed the Ghana Education Service (GES) for the legal brawl that ensued between the Achimota School and the the two Rastafarian boys, Tyrone Marhguy and Oheneba Nkrabea.
Mr. Asare insists that if the GES had confidently exercised its powers under the constitution, the issue would not have ended up in court.
The GES had ordered the school to admit the boys, but the school blatantly disregarded the directive, compelling GES to withdraw the order.
The school insisted on not admitting the boys for refusing to cut their dreadlocks as Rastafarians, explaining that the school rules could not be side-stepped or sacrificed for them.
The boys and their parents were therefore compelled to sue the school for discriminating against them on the basis of their religion to deny them the right to education.
In the end, the school had no choice but to admit them following an order by the High Court.
Speaking on Citi FM and Citi TV’s weekend current affairs show, The Big Issue, on Saturday, June 5, 2021, Mr. Asare charged the GES to fully exercise its oversight role of educational institutions to avoid such incidents in the future.
“I blame all this on GES’s failure to act. Rule 37 of British Education Law makes it clear that the heads of senior high schools and school management committees or basic schools are responsible for managing the schools in accordance with rules and guidelines established by the Education Service.”
“So the GES had all the mandate to determine what should have been done in the matter, but it failed and that brought us here.”
The ruling
Justice Gifty Adjei Addo, the presiding judge, disagreed with the submissions of the Attorney General and granted all the reliefs separately sought by the embattled students except the relief of compensation in the case of Tyrone Marhguy.
According to Justice Addo, it is preposterous for the Attorney General to have even suggested that the two were not students in the first place.
Justice Gifty Adjei Addo consequently directed Achimota School to admit the two Rastafarian students.
Following the court’s decision, Achimota School through its board announced that it will appeal the decision.