One of two Rastafarian students, Tyrone Marghuy, who was being prevented from admission to the elitist Achimota Secondary School for his dreadlocks has reportedly blown his class away in Mathematics and Science by topping the class.
This is despite the fact that he had missed several weeks in class due to his heated legal tussle with the school which was adamant in not wanting his to be admitted.
However, reports being picked up by Whatsup News indicate that the headmistress of the school, Ms. Joyce Rhodaline Addo, has withheld Tyrone’s class results, refusing to hand them over for an unknown reason.
“We were waiting for the rest of the results. So I asked him this morning if the rest of the results are in, but he said no because they said the headmistress or somebody said no the rest of the results shouldn’t be given to them anymore,” father of Tyrone revealed in a public statement, alerting that the headmistress could tamper with the results.
“I am hoping they don’t manipulate the rest of the results. “I suspect they want to hold onto it because they don’t want it to go public because it will be a disgrace to the school because if the boy didn’t study with the class and still beat them in the exams…” the elder Marghuy noted.
Tyrone and another Rastafarian student, Oheneba Nkrabea, admitted on the same batch had in the High Court contested and won against the school and the Ghana Education Service in their attempt to prevent their enrolment because of their dreadlocks maintained on religious grounds.
Nkrabea has eventually received a US$ 160,000 scholarship to attend the prestigious international school in Accra-the Ghana International School (GIS). But Tyrone had reportedly declined a similar scholarship and opted to enrol at Achimota.
The reputation of the exceptionally brilliant Tyrone had earlier earned him a place on Achimota’s Science and Mathematics debate team.
But while he was making such academic inroads, the Attorney General (AG), Godfred Yeboah Dame and the Achimota School had filed a joint appeal at the Appeals Court against the judgment of the High Court in Accra which compelled Achimota to admit two Rastafarian students that it had earlier refused to admit over their dreadlocks.
According to the appellants, Justice Gifty Agyei Addo’s erred in law when she ruled that the school’s enforcement of its rules on dressing and politesse infringes on the fundamental human rights of the two students to have an education.
“The learned Judge erred when she held that the regulation of the 1st Respondent requiring that students keep their hair low amounted to an illegal and unconstitutional attempt to suspend the manifestation of the Applicant’s guaranteed freedom to practice and manifest his religion,” the filed statement from Achimota and the AG read.
In March 2021, Tyrone Iras Marhguy and Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea had dragged the Achimota School Board of Governors, the Minister of Education, the Ghana Education Service, and the Attorney General to court over the school’s refusal to admit them because of their dreadlock hairstyle.
Achimota School had explained the hairstyle was against the school’s regulation and that they would only be admitted if they agreed to shave their hair.
Achimota’s double standards became apparent in the matter when it was revealed that some foreign students had been allowed by the school to keep their long hairs and some foreigners even spotted dreadlocks.
When confronted with the issue earlier, Angel Carbonu, the President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has justified the disparity by saying European kids would look ugly if they were asked to cut their hair low.
On May 31, 2021, the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court presided over by Justice Gifty Agyei Addo entered judgment to the effect that the fundamental human rights of the two students cannot be limited by the rules in question.
According to the judge, the Achimota School and proponents, including GES and the Attorney General’s Department, had failed to make a compelling argument as to why those two students should not be admitted, especially given their rights to education as well as their rights to express their religious freedom.