Ras Mubarak takes on NAGRAT President over Rastafarian comments

Former Member of Parliament (MP) for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak, has rebuked Angel Carbonu, President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) for suggesting that Rastafarians in the country should set up their own Senior High Schools if they want their children to keep their dreadlocks.

In a press conference on Monday, March 22, 2021, Mr Carbonu said: ““I don’t even know why the Rastafarians don’t have their own schools, because they’ve been in this country [Ghana] for a very long time”.

But Ras Mubarak reacting to the comments by Angel Carbonu told Happy FM’s Don Prah on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show: “His comments are reckless and most unfortunate to say the least. Rastafarians are a minority group in our country. And who says Rastafarians don’t have schools? Some have set up private primary schools.

But the fact that they do not have secondary schools does not mean that we shouldn’t allow their children into our public secondary schools. That is very wrong especially coming from him and where he sits”.

Ras proposed the argument that public schools such as Achimota Senior High School are managed with taxes from the citizenry including Rastafarians and as such, it would be unfair to deny them admission to these schools based on their religion.

Background

The issue of Rastafarians made waves in the media as two Rastafarian students were denied admission at the Achimota School on their first day after reporting in dreadlocks.

Subsequently, the Ghana Education Service directed the School to admit these students as the Director-General of the GES, Prof. Kwasi-Opoku Amankwa stated in an interview that no school can deny students admission on the basis of their religion.

However, the GES has made a U-Turn by rescinding its earlier decision while throwing its support to Achimota School for refusing to admit Rastafarian students.

President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonou has also lauded Achimota’s decision by stating that the School did not refuse to admit the students but only spelt out the rules and regulations to the parent and the student.