Rastafarian brouhaha: 'Rules should help people; not prevent them from accessing opportunities' – Sociologist

Rules and regulations made to govern institutions particularly schools are to help people and not to prevent them from accessing opportunities, a Sociologist at the University of Ghana, Dr. Albert Kpoor, has stated.

His comments come at the back of Achimota School’s refusal of admission to two first-year senior high school students for keeping a Rastafarian hairstyle known as “dreadlocks”.

The news was greeted with mixed reactions from the public with some siding with the school’s decision and others taking the opposite stance.

Commenting on the issue on Campus Exclusive, on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, Dr. Albert Kpoor said rules are made to help people and not the contrary.

“In this particular case, I think that rules are supposed to help people. We are not supposed to use rules to prevent people from accessing opportunities and so in this particular case, even though the rules are on the side of the school, we also have human reasons. So we should use reason to address this particular situation,” he stated.

Dr. Albert Kpoor called for more dialogue between the parents of the two students and the school authorities to reach a compromise on the issue.

“What I think is that the school should not have an entrenched position and the parents of the young men should also not hold an entrenched position. There should be a middle ground…what is it that the parents want?…do they really want their child to have an Achimota school education?…does the school also want to really admit the students?

“…so the school is right but then headmistress can decide that they should cut their hair a little bit,” he suggested.



He further advocated for modification of rules in schools to cater for the changing dynamics in society.

“The rules have to change to accommodate the changing needs of the society at the same time. But I think rules are made in schools to ensure uniformity and training."

"For example keeping your hair low or keeping your head tidy is a part of training….it has to do with neatness and tidiness [sanitation reasons],” he added.