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The National Peace Council has been petitioned by some muslim parents, old girls and concerned Muslims of Ghana about gross discrimination being meted out to Muslim students of Wesley Girls' High School in Cape Coast.

A petition signed by Lepowura Alhaji M.N.D. Jawula, former Chief Director - Ministry of Health and former Chairman of the Ghana Football Association and four others said, "as parents, old girls and concerned Muslims of Ghana, we find it worrying and disturbing that several months after the National Peace Council's intervention, the promised 'amicable resolution' has not been communicated to the public. The prevailing situation at the school is very discomforting in the light of the fact that another Muslim month of fasting (Ramadan) is fast approaching whilst the religious rights of the Muslim students of Wesley Girls SHS are still curtailed by the school's authorities".

According to the petition, the Muslim students at the school are not allowed to: prepare for and perform their five (5) mandatory daily prayers, hold leadership roles in the school including but not limited to prefectship, have their religious scripture (the Holy Qur'an) with them in the school, exercise their constitutional right to associate with other Muslim students in the schooi, and take Islamicaiiy appropriate dresses (such as veils/hijabs) with them for prayers in the school. Indeed, Muslim students of Wesley Girls' High School are not merely subjected to gross discrimination at all levels at the school, but they also suffer bullying/targeting by other students/prefects, housemistresses, school chaplain and teachers. They are also compelled to attend mandatory Christian Church services, a faith they do not subscribe to.

Background

A Muslim father, Mr. Ismail Zakarra Alhassan got a complaint from his daughter at Wesley Girls' High School to the effect that the school does not allow her to fast. As a result, on 26th April 2021 he drove from Accra to Cape Coast to withdraw his ward from the school.

The incident led to condemnation from the general public culminating in a directive contained in a press release dated 1st May 2021 from the Ghana Education Service (GES) to the school authorities to allow the Muslim students to fast.

The GES directive was followed by a reaction from the Methodist Church Ghana in a press release dated 4th May 2021 in which the leadership of the Methodist Church stated that the Methodist Church took "strong exception to the directive given" in the GES press release. Several organisations and individuals waded into the matter by reason of which the National Peace Council eventually stepped in to find an amicable resolution to the issue.


Read petition attached.