Jawula, Muslim Parents Petition Peace Council Over Wesley Girls’ Discrimination

Lepowura Alhaji M.N.D Jawula the traditional chief of the Kpembi Traditional area and a former President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and some other Muslim parents have written to the National Peace Council (NPC) to call the administration of the Wesley Girls High School to order.

The petition dated September 27, 2021, wants a quick resolution of necessary legislation that will bar schools like Wesley Girls from abusing the right of their students to practicing their religious faith on campus.

The headmistress of Wesley Girls, Mrs. Betty Dzokoto, and her administration had earlier this year courted intense anger from the Muslim community for barred Muslim students from prayers and meetings, particularly during their annual Ramadan fasting ritual.  

The fallout from the witch-hunting of Muslim students in the school reportedly forced the National Chief Imam, Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu into a rage as other Muslim bodies issue warnings against the situation at Wesley Girls.

 “Anytime Chief Imam hears this he feels disappointed, he feels worried, and when he calls and talks to me he’s like ‘these are the people that they hail praises on me, they show me great respect anytime, but my grandchildren are in their schools, and my grandchildren are not treated well,” Sheikh Aremeyaw Shaibu, the Spokesperson of the Chief Imam said in an interview monitored by Whatsup News. 

Meanwhile, in the latest petition to the NPC, the concerned Muslim parents said they want broad stakeholder consultations on the subject in a bid to ensure national peace, harmony and security.

According to them, they expected a speedy resolution of the issue after the National Peace Council announced that it was intervening in the matter at Wesley Girls’ School earlier this year.

“…It is very discomforting in the light of the fact that another Muslim month of fasting (Ramadan) is fast approaching whilst the religious rights of the Muslim students of Wesley Girls SHS are still curtailed by the school’s authorities,” the parents stated.

Following the religious harassment on campus, a parent, Ismail Zakaria Alhassan went to Wesley Girls to withdraw his daughter from the school after a complaint that she was not being allowed to practice her Muslim faith.

 “At the moment, the final year SHS students are writing their final exams, and one cannot imagine the impact the denial of the religious rights of Muslim students in Wesley Girls’ High School is having on the Muslim students at the school. It is our prayer that the above-mentioned regulations and/or legislation would be communicated to the public in the shortest possible time,” the letter read.