Compulsory church service in Ghana schools must be re-examined

The death of Adisadel College student Mustapha Abdul Gafaru last week has sparked the debate about the role of religion in schools in Ghana, especially boarding schools.

Various reasons have been given why Mustapha opted not to attend the Sunday church service but the fact that the youngster was a devout Muslim could have led to his unwillingness to attend the gathering.

This apparently led to the chase by the senior housemaster at the new classroom block where Mustapha was studying and in his bid to evade the teacher he jumped to his death.

This has brought to the fore the decades of uneasiness, silent protests and sometimes very vocal protests by students of non-Christian faiths in most Ghanaian schools over the compulsory attendance of church services in these institutions.

In my research in writing this article, I was taken aback by the corroborated evidence that even in northern parts of Ghana - primarily Muslim- when secondary schools started to spring up mostly by Christian missionaries after independence, prospective students were required to change their names by taking Christian names before they were granted admission!

This might have led to names like Edward Salia and Jones Abu Alhassan. I even learnt, though not confirmed, that Mohammed Ibn Chambas was called Peter in his early schooling days.

This policy by the schools led to the refusal of most Muslim parents in the 1960s to allow their children to have western education because of the fear that these kids could be forcibly converted to Christianity. That perhaps explains why there is a momentous gap between the educated in Muslim areas in Ghana and other parts of the country.

In those early days the schools were funded by these Christian missions, allowing them to set their rules according to their beliefs as they wanted to use those institutions to propagate the new religion that they have brought to the country and also provide education for the children of their new converts.

But the running of most of these institutions has now been passed onto the Ghana government as most of these missionaries have left and now the tax payers’ money is being used to fund these schools. The loyalty of the teachers and all the employees of these schools is now redirected towards the Ghana government and not the missionaries who have now departed.

As Ghana is a secular state and these schools are funded by the government, the authorities should have re-examined the school rules after the missionaries have left to ensure that every citizen of the country has the same right of gaining admissions to these schools. Then it should be ensured that all are free to practice their religion without any hindrance and also not to be forced to practice a religion he/she does not want as enshrined in the country’s constitution espouse dictates of freedom of worship.

As long as this unfair school rule exists it is bound to generate protests from students of other faiths and will be flouted by the most law-abiding student because the law is fundamentally flawed as it does not ensure equality, justice and the freedom of worship.

I suffered a similar fate as I attended a Presbyterian school where the practice of my five daily prayers as Muslim was not tolerated and my protests not to attend church service was crushed by over zealous teachers who were not willing to allow my freedom of worship.

Several Muslims up and down the country have suffered severely because many did not have the opportunity of having some education because their parents were sceptical.

Those of us who did suffered in silence because we did not have the voice to speak out for the fear that we could be unfairly dismissed and the future of prospective Muslims gaining admission could be put in danger.

In the light of Mustapha’s incident, and to prevent further incidents, it is now time for our government and school authorities to grants these rights to students of other faiths as enshrined in our country’s laws.

The fact that a school has Christian origins doesn't mean that Muslims in the country and people of other faiths don't have the right to gain admission in those schools. After all government grants and subsidies are used in running those institutions. Otherwise our government would be seen as paying for the propagation/promotion of a particular religion to the detriment of others.

The continuation of this inherently undermines the principle of equality before the law and of a level playing field for all. We are all Ghanaians of equal standing and we should be treated equally. A Christian will not be happy to be forced to attend a Muslim prayer service and so is the vice-versa. So T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School should not force tis Christian students to go to the mosque while Adisadel College should not force Muslims student to go for church service.

The government, parliament and CHRAG have the ultimate power in ensuring that schools in Ghana re-examine their regulations to accommodate other religions in the country otherwise we will continue to look on as the rights of others are being blatantly flouted.

What makes Ghana a unique country is that the people appreciate difference and that is what has enhanced co-existence among all religions in this country and has seen people of all faiths play a part in the country’s development.

The colonial era is long gone and the approach of making these church services compulsory for all students regardless of their faith is the preserve of determined nostalgics, like white settlers refusing to give up land long after the empire has left.

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.