PRESEC allows Muslim students to fast, that has never dropped their ranking – Sheikh Aremeyaw

Spokesperson of the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Aremeyaw Shaibu questioned the decision of the Wesley Girls Senior High School not to allow a Muslim student to fast during Ramadan.

He said fasting will not in any way affect the academic work of the students hence, finds it difficult to countenance this decision.

Sheik Aremeyaw explained on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, May 8 that schools such as the Presbyterian Boys Secondary School(PRESEC), a mission school, allow Muslim students to fast but that has never blemished the academic ranking of the school.

He also expressed concerns over what he describes as gang up against Muslims by big Christian organizations in Ghana.

His comments come after the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Christian Council of Ghana have issued a communique throwing support for the Methodist Church-Ghana as regards the prevention of some students at Wesley Girls Senior High School to fast during Ramadan.

The Bishops said “We have discussed the issue prayerfully and have studied the various press statements that some stakeholders have released on the matter.

“We wish to endorse the position of the Methodist Church Ghana, which they succinctly outlined in their May 4, 2021 press release, and reiterate that the decision of the Wesley Girls Senior High School authorities on fasting is purely in the interest of the students.”

These were contained in the communique issued after an annual joint meeting of the two Christian bodies at the St James Catholic Church, Osu in Accra on Wednesday, May 5.

The two bodies also used the opportunity to hold an ecumenical service to pray for Christian unity, the well-being of the government and the people of Ghana and reflected on how to abide in Christ as a nation in order to have sustainability of strength and not wither away.

The leadership of the two bodies said in their discussion of issues of national interest, they took a strong exception to the directive of the Ghana Education Service (GES) issued on Saturday, May 1 to Wesley Girls High School as regards fasting rules for its students.

They explained that mission schools have been guided by religious traditions of the respective churches from their inception in the country.

“Even in the more advanced democracies in the world, such a space is granted the various churches in the running of their respective mission schools.

“Therefore, we respectfully wish to state that the Ministry of Education, GES or any other stakeholder must not undermine the Codes of Conduct of the various mission schools, which have ensured their discipline and high academic standards for almost two centuries in Ghana.”

Commenting on this development on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, May 8, Sheik Aremeyaw Shaibu said “In Presbyterian Boys Secondary School (PRESEC) which is one of the best schools in this country, we have Muslim students there, they have a patron in the school who caters for their needs in matters of discipline. They pray in school, they fast and do everything.

“These practices have never reduced the academic ranking of PRESEC.

“My worry is the ganging up by these big Christian organizations, the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference and the Christian Council not taking a step back to look at this dispassionately but rather endorsing this.”