MND Jawula, others write to Peace Council over Wesley Girls-Muslim students brouhaha

Former President of the Ghana Football Association, Lepowura Alhaji M.N.D Jawula and other parents of Muslim students at Wesley Girls’ High School have written to the National Peace Council to demand an expedited process on the development of subsidiary legislation on school faith practices aimed at addressing the issue of Muslim students being prevented from practising their faith while in school.

In a letter, the concerned parents and Muslims said they also want broad stakeholder consultations on the subject in a bid to ensure national peace, harmony and security.

According to them, they expected a speedy resolution of the issue after the National Peace Council announced that it was intervening in the matter at Wesley Girls’ School earlier this year.

“…It 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,” the parents stated.

Earlier this year, it became a subject of national discussion when a parent, Ismail Zakaria Alhassan went to Wesley Girls’ High School to withdraw his daughter from the school after a complaint that she was not being allowed to practice her Muslim faith; not to fast, pray five times daily or read the Quran.

While some condemned the school for such rules, others applauded it for staying true to its long-standing orientation as a strict Methodist school.

“At the moment, the final year SHS students are writing their final exams, and one cannot imagine the impact the denial of the religious rights of Muslim students in Wesley Girls’ High School is having on the Muslim students at the school. It is our prayer that the above-mentioned regulations and/or legislation would be communicated to the public in the shortest possible time,” the letter stated.

Read the full statement below: