GES orders Wesley Girls, other schools to allow Muslim students partake in Ramadan fasting

The Ghana Education Service has directed the management of Wesley Girls' High School and other schools preventing Muslim students from partaking in the Ramadan fast to allow them do so.

The Service, in a statement cited by GhanaWeb, said even though the decision to prevent students from fasting in school was made because of health complications some of them have, students who wish to partake in the exercise should be allowed to do so.

“Fasting undertaken by students for various reasons and observed differently by the respective groupings has had varied health implications on our students over the years. The net effect was that students developed various health conditions. The school, therefore, took the decision, then, that irrespective of one’s religious background, fasting was not permitted.”

The statement is in response to reports that authorities of Wesley Girls’ had prevented a Muslim student from partaking in the ongoing Ramadan fasting.

The statement issued on Saturday, May 1, 2021, noted that the Education Minister, after a meeting with some Board Members of the school, “advised the Ghana Education Service to put in place measures to address the matter bearing in mind the rights of students and the concerns of schools on the health risk associated with the fasting.”

The Ghana Education Service has, therefore, asked “Wesley Girls’ High School as well as any other school to allow any such student who wishes to fast for any religious reason to do so.”

Read the full statement below: