No admission for Rastafarian students until court verdict

The Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court has thrown out an application for interlocutory injunction filed by one of the Rastafarian students refused admission by Achimota School.

The court presided over by Justice Gifty Agyei Addo said the application for an injunction, if granted, could prejudice the entire matter before her.

In the ex-parte motion, Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea, through his father, argued that with academic work already in session, he stands to be disadvantaged if he continues to stay home waiting for the final decision of the court on the substantive case.

He prayed the court to force Achimota School to allow him to attend classes while the case lingers.

“This application is brought ex-parte because of the particular urgency of this case. Fresh students of Achimota School have reported to school and commenced academic work while [the] Applicant is still being denied enrolment despite the directive by 2nd Respondent [Ghana Education Service]. It has therefore become necessary for the Court to intervene in order that Applicant’s rights are protected and enforced. The longer Applicant stays at home, the longer he will continue to be denied an education. If this application is heard in the ordinary, Applicant will have to abide by all the rules relating to service of processes and continue to remain at home while his colleagues are gaining an education,” excerpts of the motion said.

But Her Ladyship Gifty Adjei Addo said expediting the trial will be in the student’s interest as the mandatory injunction would have allowed him to be in school for only 10 days.

She further granted an order for the first respondent, the Achimota School, to file its response seven days after being served instead of the statutory 21 days.

This means that Oheneba Nkrabea will not be admitted temporarily by the Achimota school while the case lingers.

Substantive case

Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea dragged Achimota School, the Board of Governors of Achimota School, the Ghana Education Service, Ministry of Education, and the Attorney General to court, praying the Human Rights Division of the High Court to compel Achimota School to admit him for his education.

He is also asking the court to stop the school from ever discriminating against him based on his “religion and or creed”.

Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea prayed to the court to, among other things, make “a declaration that requiring Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea a child and adherent of the Rastafari religion and creed, to either cut his hair or forfeit admission into Achimota School, a public senior high school, is a violation of his rights to dignity…contrary to articles 15 and 28(3) of the Constitution, 1992 and section 13 of the Children’s Act 1998 (Act 560)”.

Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea’s suit is the second after one filed by Tyron Marhguy, the other Rastafarian who was denied admission to the school.

Students denied admission

About three weeks ago, it was reported that Achimota School had denied two Rastafarians admission to the school, although they had been placed there by the Ghana Education Service’s Computerized School Selection and Placement Service (CSSPS).

According to the School, Tyrone Marghuy and other students with dreadlocks need to cut their hair before studying there.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) subsequently ordered Achimota School to admit the students, but it made a U-turn on its stance.

One of the Rastafarians who went to seek admission at his second choice of school, Saint John’s Grammar School, was again refused admission there because of his dreadlocks.

Following calls for legal processes to be initiated against the school, Tyron Marhguy sued Achimota School.