MISSION SCHOOLS AND RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE IN GHANA
Dan Dzide
Executive Secretary, Dept of Social Communications.
National Catholic Secretariat, Accra.
When you visit Bishop Herman College in Kpando, a veritable stronghold of Catholicism in Ghana, ask to be shown where Moslem students congregate for their ‘salat’ prayers everyday. You will be directed to a quiet and convenient spot close to the school refectory. This has been the normal practice and tradition in this famous Catholic school for many decades. From the look of things, this peaceful co-existence between Christians and Moslems in the school is unlikely to be disturbed for many years to come. This is how it is and this is how it will be.
Religious tolerance has been the hallmark of mission institutions and schools in Ghana. In Holy Child School, Cape Coast, for example, there has been a time when the school head prefect was a Moslem. There are many more examples.
In OLA College of Education, Cape Coast just a couple of years ago, two Moslem ladies were also prefects. In fact, the best behaved lady in the College during the same period was a Moslem. In OLA Senior High School, Ho, Moslem students blend beautifully into the smooth disciplinary landscape. The question of Moslem students wearing ‘hijab’ when every student is supposed to wear low cut hairstyles has never really come up.
Rev. Father Samuel Batsa, retired headmaster of St. Thomas Aquinas SHS, Accra recalled how at the Holy Mass marking his 40 years as a priest, the school choir put up a splendid performance. He was all the more elated to know that almost half of the choristers were Moslems. He had been headmaster of that school for 19 years and remembered how St. Thomas Aquinas SHS had remained all those years the preferred school of choice for many Moslem parents, “The Moslem students lived with their Christian counterparts in a spirit of tolerance and understanding,” he says.
In the Catholic diocese of Navrongo-Bolgatanga in the Upper East region of Ghana, religious tolerance and peace had almost been taken for granted. Rev. Father Lazarus Anondee, Coordinator of the National Catholic Service Centre of the National Catholic Secretariat, recalled how Moslem and Christian students in Catholic schools used to get on happily. Someone once wrote “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
Rev. Father John Addae-Boateng, the immediate Past General Manager of Catholic School, believes that Ghanaians are indeed blessed to be living in peace with one another in a spirit of mutual respect. “We should see ourselves as one whether at school, at workplaces or in the community,” he says.
He is convinced that in Senior High Schools, Colleges and Institutions of higher learning belonging to missions, there is a real opportunity for students to interact with others. “This is the time to show interest in the beliefs and practices of others. A rare opportunity for them to learn.”
He, however, believes that once a person agrees to go to a school with a particular religious persuasion, one should expect to conform to the religious practice prevailing there. “After all, when you go to Rome, do as the Romans do.”
Rev. Father Addae-Boateng is not happy about the apparent systematic weakening of the position of faith-based unit managers within the Ghana Education Service (GES). He thinks that the necessary consultation and cooperation were not being done.
As the heat of the argument whether to permit the wearing of the ‘hijab’ in mission schools or not slowly diminishes, it is hoped that more public SHS would be encouraged to take in more and more students of all religious persuasions. It is hoped that their particular religious dressing code as well as other demands would be taken into consideration. It would be interesting to watch how school authorities would work to keep a potentially explosive situation under control.
Alhaji Razak El-Alawa writing in the Saturday, 14th March 2015 issue of the Daily Graphic wrote: “Over the years, Muslims and Christians in Ghana have been living in unity as brothers and sisters. It will be difficult to find any country that is so tolerant like Ghana when it comes to religion.” I couldn’t agree more with him. Extremist views can shatter our peaceful co-existence and throw everything over board. Let us all resolve to use dialogue to address this impasse. We owe it a duty to ensure that Ghana remains an exemplar of religious tolerance in Africa and the rest of the world.
dandzide@yahoo.com