The Ghana Education Service has been asked by the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) to reverse its order to Achimota School to accept two first-year students who were previously refused admission due to their dreadlocks.
The school had sent the dreadlocked students home on Thursday, asking their parents to cut their hair or find them another school.
The story received national attention, leading GES to order the school to admit the students.
At a press conference on March 22, 2021, NAGRAT President Angel Carbonu said the directive is a threat to conformity and that it amounts to deregulating the school system, which would result in anarchy.
“We are calling on the GES to redirect the headmistress and staff of Achimota School to ensure that the rules and regulations of the school and any other school is abided by students The school is not a fashion school or a place to exhibit one’s religious belief it is an environment for training and conformity is part of training”
He also said that NAGRAT is well-positioned to deal with any organization that wishes to pursue the matter legally.
““NAGRAT welcomes anyone who wants to go to court on this issue, that court case will not focus on only dreadlocks, it will cover conformity to rules and regulations”.
Raswad Nkrabea, the father of one of the boys, told Citi News that although he has yet to receive official correspondence from the school, he is satisfied with the GES directive.
““No I haven’t gotten any message from anybody yet but what I think about it is that it is indeed a step in the right direction that they have advised themselves to do the right thing and have come forward to accept that aspect of it. I do hope that the school will follow through with the process,” he said
Mr. Nkrabea also requires all public Senior High Schools (SHS) to allow dreadlocked students.
“We don’t want it to be a case where it only applies to one school, such as the Achimota School, and then it occurs in Kumasi next year or somewhere else. He went on to state, “We want to make sure the legal procedures are followed properly.”
According to reports, Mr. Nkrabea will meet with GES on March 22 to receive an official confirmation.