Court Orders Achimota School To Respond To Rastaman’s Suit Over Refusal To Admit Him

The Human Rights High Court in Accra has ordered the Achimota Senior High School to file a response to the suit brought against the school by the Rastaman who turned to the law after he was denied admission by the school because of his dreadlocks hairstyle.

Justice Gifty Agyei Addo, the presiding judge, ordered the Board of Governors to respond to the suit decrying vandalism of Mr. Tyrone Marghuy’s right to practice his faith and still have an education at a public school within seven days.

The judge also ordered the Education Ministry, the Ghana Education Service and the Attorney General to similarly file responses.

It would be recalled that Mr. Marghuy was one of a number of Rastafarians who were denied admission to school by Achimota School on grounds that their hairstyles are not acceptable to the code of dressing of the school.

As the Rastafarians had very good results, the school’s action sparked controversy. It also came under attack as a hypocrite institution because the same Achimota had admitted Caucasian white students who were allowed to wear their long blonde hairs.

Mr. Marghuy is in court with the grievance that his fundamental right to worship and also have an education have been vandalized by the school.

Meanwhile, Justice Gifty Agyei Addo did not grant an interlocutory injunction that Mr. Marghuy had sought against the school.

According to her, the application granted could prejudice the entire matter before her of granted.

She also pointed out that the applicant failed to appreciate the difference between an interim injunction which will last for 10 days and an interlocutory injunction which will last until the final determination of the substantive case.