Rastafarians should build their own schools in Ghana - NAGRAT boss

The President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonou has suggested that if Rastafarians want their children to keep their dreadlocks on in senior high schools (SHS) in Ghana, then they should consider setting up their own schools.

He made this suggestion, in a press conference in Accra on Monday [March 22, 2021]. He was reacting to a decision by the Achimota Senior High School not to admit two Rastafarian first year students on campus unless they cut their hair. 

"I don't even know why the Rastafarians don't have their own schools, because they've been in this country [Ghana] for a very long time," Mr Angel Carbonou said as quoted by Graphiconline

At the press conference Mr Carbonou, said Achimota School did not refuse to admit the students, adding that the school only spelt out the rules and regulations of the school to the parent and the student.

“We expect that if you want to be in that school, you obey the rules and regulations. The rules and regulations of an institution are not chosen and picked by individuals, they become standard and ought to be obeyed by anyone who wants to access the school,” Mr Carbonou said.

He said the rules and regulations went beyond hair cut.

Meanwhile the management of Achimota School has refused to bow to pressure from the Ghana Education Service (GES) to admit two Rastafarians with dreadlocks.

The  school maintained its stance to reject the students with dreadlocks,  after an extensive meeting between the parents of the two boys, officials of the Ghana Education Service (GES).

An official at the school disclosed in anonymity that though the insititution had been directed to admit the students, they will still not change their earlier decision.