Wesley Girls School brouhaha exaggerated — Peace Council
The council made the recommendation after concluding investigations into the recent denial of a Muslim student to undertake the Ramadan Fast in the school.
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A statement issued by the council said the members visited the school last Monday to ascertain the peace situation on campus since the issue came up and gather facts from the original source of the impasse.
The team, led by the regional council chairman, Mr Matthew Eghan, found a serene atmosphere at the school compound, as if the school was on vacation; however, academic work was ongoing.
The statement said the headmistress, Mrs Kay Oppong Ankomah, said nothing had disrupted the peace on campus and the issue was not even discussed on campus because it was not new to the school.
Headmistress
In answering a question, the headmistress said the issue on the table had been exaggerated by the media and most of the reports in the news were not factually reported. She explained that she had not threatened to dismiss any student who fasted on campus.
According to the headmistress, the decision not to allow students to fast was taken in the best interest of the students and not because it was a Methodist School. She, therefore, said that to describe the rule of the school as religious discrimination was very unfortunate. Mrs Ankomah averred the ban on fasting had never been an issue in the school until this year’s Ramadan when a parent came with the media to insist that his daughter be allowed to fast while on campus. The case was however, resolved amicably by the parties at her office, but days later she heard a different story being broadcast in the media.
Peace Council
The council learnt that there were 24 Muslims on campus at the time the incident occurred, who were adhering to the rules and having their lessons in a peaceful environment.
“The one who reported to the father that she is not allowed to fast even disagreed with the father when he decided to withdraw her from the school. None of the Muslim students has disobeyed the school rules and there is a cordial relationship between Christians and Muslims on campus”, the council learnt.
Students on vacation
The council said the batch of students under whose semester the incident occurred were on vacation now, stressing that the current batch on campus (SHS 3 students) had six Muslim students who were going about their academic work peacefully.
The statement said the council got the information that the ‘no fasting rule’ was communicated to the students during orientation, thus after they had been admitted. “The council was pleased about the peaceful atmosphere in the school when they visited the school and recommends this to continue since it can favour academic work,” the statement added.
Muslim Groups
It again called on all Ghanaians, principally, the Muslim community, who had been affected in any way by the events at the Wesley Girls’ High School, to exercise the greatest control and circumspection in their actions, comments and pronouncements on the matter.
“The issue is not a battle between Christian and Muslim faiths but a misunderstanding of application of school rules meant to help the students.
The National Peace Council head office has decided to initiate an intervention plan to curb the recurrence of such impasse,”it said.
Wesley Girls High School dominated the headlines in Ghana after news broke that the school was preventing Muslim students from fasting during the Ramadan period because it could be detrimental to their health.
The Ghana Education Service in a statement directed that students should be allowed to fast; indicating that parents of such students would have to sign an undertaking to the effect that the school would not be held responsible for any ill health emanating from the fasting.