Edited by James Joseph, Managing Editor for Long-Form Content
In this interview for JURIST, Lana Osei JURIST’s Chief West Africa Correspondent based in Ghana, and Halima Abena Kyerewah Adam from the University of Cape Coast Faculty of Law speak with Shafic Osman a Ghanaian lawyer and plaintiff in a groundbreaking case of religious liberty in Ghana’s education system on the motivations and implications of his lawsuit filed against the Board of Governors of Wesley Girls’ Senior High School, the Education Service, and the Attorney General in Ghana. Osman’s legal challenge addresses the policy of religious non-accommodation in mission schools, particularly Wesley Girls’ High School, which prohibits Muslim students from practicing their faith. His inspiration stems from personal experiences and broader incidents involving religious discrimination in schools. Shafic emphasizes the constitutional obligations to uphold religious freedom under Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, advocating for a more inclusive interpretation of religious rights in public institutions.
The care is bought under Articles 12,17(1) and (2), 21(1)(b),(c)(e) and 26 of the 1992 Constitution and International Human Rights cognisable under Article 33(5)o f the Constitution of Ghana, 1992.
He calls for the court to instruct the Ghana Education Service to establish guidelines for religious accommodation in schools, reflecting on the necessity for public spaces to respect diverse religious practices. The public reaction is mixed, with discussions about the expectations of attending a mission school, but Shafic highlights the importance of legal recourse in challenging extreme non-accommodation. The case is still in its early stages, with court proceedings expected to unfold as responses from the defendants are awaited.
As Ghanaians await the decision of the highest court of the land in the case of Shafic Osman v Board of Governors of Wesley Girls’ Senior High School, Education Service and the Attorney General as to whether or not a public mission school can compel its students of diverse faiths to comply with a particular religious practice, JURIST staff correspondent in Ghana, Halima Abena Kyerewah Adam discussed with the plaintiff of the matter before the court on what his inspiration and motivation is with regards to instituting the action before the court.
JURIST: Mr. Shafic, as this seems to be a novel question for the court, we will like to know about your motivation with regards to starting this suit?
Shafic: I have always been intrigued by the question why people of some religious faith are not allowed to manifest their religion in boarding schools. I am a Muslim and my attachment to this case has started to do with my religion. Personally, I went to Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High, Accra but we didn’t have any issue over there. We could pray and the accommodation giving to us as Muslim Students was significant unlike other mission schools. The issue has got to do with manifesting one’s religion within reasonable limits in a public space.
When I was a child, there was this issue of a Muslim boy from Adisadel college who didn’t want to go to church on a Sunday. In an attempt to run away from a teacher who was compelling him to go to church, he fell from a third floor and lost his life. These stories have always been out there for some of us as Muslims. One of such stories that pushed this suit was in December 2023 where Muslim Students at Wesley Girls complained of the school preventing them from manifesting their religion on campus.
I reminded myself of the privilege we have as lawyers, the access to the court and the duty on us under article 2 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. Thus, the largest attachment basically is that there is a constitutional duty on my colleagues and I to take this matter up.
JURIST: Is the case pursuant to a particular activity of the defendant’s school that you think it infringes on the constitutional rights of Muslim students or on a general basis it is with respect to the inability on the parts of Muslim students to manifest their religion.
Mr. Shafic: It is in relation to the no-Islam policy in the school; the non-accommodation of Muslim students. This has been going on for decades and parents for whatever reasons have not been able to see it through.
JURIST: We will like to know how the public has reacted to this? Do you think the behaviour of Wesley Girls’ reflect the overall societal value of Ghana?
Shafic: On the question of what the public outcry has been, to be honest I was a bit more encouraged than I would have been previously. There is also the conversation going on that the school is Wesley Girls established by the Methodist mission so one should have in mind what she is getting into if she wants to be a student there as a Non-Methodist or a Muslim. Thus, “to do what the Romans do when you go to Rome” concept. However, I am not bothered because I think the beauty of having a constitutional republic with a very active judiciary is that you get to put the right questions before the right bodies. What we ask the court to answer is the most extreme form of non- accommodation we have in some Ghanaian public schools. One cannot even fast, pray or been seen to hold any religious artifacts. I think there are several things we need to grow as a country.
JURIST: Does the relief you are seeking from the court in favour of the accommodation of Muslims in the country or in the defendant school only?
Shafic: We are asking the court to direct the Ghana Education Service to come up with some guidelines on what religious accommodation should look like in schools. So, in this regard is pertaining to schools but in the broader sense it is looking at public spaces. The idea that rights to religion pursuant to article 21(1)(c) and 56 of the 1992 constitution mean something and what it should mean is that public status should be accommodative of reasonable manifestation of religion.
JURIST: Was there any case you looked at in your arguments before the courts? Or basically what were your arguments before the court?
Shafic: Our argument is essentially to the point that a public institution owes that duty to be accommodative and respectful. There is a reason why a Muslim cannot go to a missionary school where people are trained to become a priest and insist on their rights there. However, the character of a public institution like a school governed by the Pre-Tertiary Education Act, Act 2020 and prior parliamentary conversations contains the spirit for a need of a school as a public institution to accommodate all races, religion and sexes. If constitutional rights need to be limited, the limitation oughts to be necessary and proportional.
JURIST: How is the case progressing?
Shafic: For now, we are waiting for the court to grant proof of service so that we can now start counting the number of days towards the other party having to respond to our arguments put forward.
JURIST: Any final remarks?
Shafic: I will like to reiterate this fact that this case is purely a constitutional question on how we can be more inclusive and accommodative as a republic.
Image: Supreme Court of Ghana by Guido Sohne from Accra, Ghana, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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