Achimota-Rastafarian students saga: The issue was overblown – Kweku Baako

• Baako holds the view that the students should have been allowed to attend the school with their hair

• He is surprised by the entrenched position taken Achimota School on the matter

• It is his wish that the school does not appeal the ruling by the High Court that orders the admission of the students

Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, has said he is yet to come to terms with the controversy about the rejection of the two Rastafarian students by Achimota School.

Baako is of the view that the issue should not have travelled this far as the students should have been allowed to enroll and continue their education.

Speaking on Peace FM, Baako said that he struggled to appreciate the school’s argument that admitting the students could lead to ‘chaos’ at the school.

“I wasn’t speaking maybe because I’m over liberal. I didn’t understand the whole thing. I didn’t see the challenge. It’s true the school has rules but I don’t understand why it should be an issue. My instincts were to back the students. I thought this whole thing was being overblown.

“If they are Rastafarians and they misbehave, then you take action. The mere fact that you think their hairstyle will inspire other students to do same; I was finding it very difficult to appreciate the school’s position. I couldn’t reconcile myself with it and still. I don’t understand why it should be a controversy”.

Whiles respecting the right of the school to appeal the ruling by the Accra High Court on Monday, May 30, 2021, Kweku Baako advised the school to accept the verdict.

“Left to me alone, they should forget the Appeal so that we move on but since its within their right, you can’t attack it,” he said.

Baako’s comments come on the back of a ruling by the Accra High Court which ordered Achimota Senior High School to accept the students.

The ruling has infuriated Angel Carbonu who is the President of the National Association for Graduate Teachers.

Angel Cabonu claims a bad precedent has been set by the court and that student will not wear all kinds of hairstyles in the name of religion.

“What the judgement means is that the Rasta students and all other students can dress any way and go to school, and we teachers do not have to waste our time and energy talking about character formation. We thank the court for making our work easy.

“Someone wears rasta, you should also be able to wear your cap or hat. We really do not care about that in any way. We do not care about character formation because our professional understanding of character formation has been truncated by a court ruling and you want us to care. We are going to obey the court ruling,” he said.