Kofi Asare, the Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, has called on parents and students to go to court if they feel unfairly treated over hairstyle rules.
According to Kofi Asare, parents and students who feel victimised or discriminated against can pursue legal action.
Speaking in an interview on Channel One Newsroom, Kofi Asare stated, “It’s not always about indiscipline or discipline. I align with the law, and I encourage anyone who feels unfairly treated to engage the law. Society grows, and so should the law grow”.
He further recounted the case of old Achimota School student Tyrone Iras Marhguy, who was denied admission in 2021 but later won the case in court.
He recounted, “Marhguy argued that maintaining his Rasta was linked to his belief in Rastafarianism. And that denying him admission based on Rasta meant that his rights to religion and culture were being impugned on account of the school regulations…It was necessary for him to be allowed to manifest his religion by wearing his hair, which he related directly to his belief in Rastafarianism, and the court upheld that.
He added, “The court simply said, yes, schools may set their rules for regulating dress codes, including hairstyles. But in setting those rules, they shouldn’t be inconsistent with their right to religion.
“In the Marhguy case, culture and religion erupted. Before, all of us believed that it was unconscionable for the Ghana Education Service to deny people admission based on their hairstyles. That was our position.
“Then, the Marhguy’s case came, and the court made a pronouncement, and so we all aligned with the law until there is a contrary pronouncement by the court.”
His comments come on the back of Haruna Iddrisu, the Education Minister, who has shut down social media debate regarding Senior High School (SHS) students cutting their long hair before reporting to school.
The Education Minister boldly declared, they will not tolerate long hair today or tomorrow in SHS.
He highlighted that if long hairs are accepted in schools, tomorrow it will be shoes the next day the uniforms students wear in SHS.
Speaking to patrons of the 75th anniversary of Mawuli School in the Volta Region, Haruna Iddrisu stated, “There is an ongoing debate on social media about haircuts and the size and length of hair in secondary school.
We will not tolerate it today; we will not tolerate it tomorrow in so long as we are moulding character. If we give in to hair today, tomorrow it will be shoes, and the next day it will be the way they dress”.
He added, “Therefore, as part of our disciplinary measures, headmasters and GES, you are therefore empowered to take full control of how students behave on your campuses.
Anybody who thinks your child will walk into any institution of learning as if that child forgives my words—were to attend a beauty contest, the school environment is not for that purpose and is not cut for that purpose and will not tolerate that as an institution,” he stated.