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News Central

Lawsuit will provide clarity on admission of students with dreadlocks – Lawyer

By : cd on 23 Mar 2021, 02:52     |     Source: citinewsroom

Achimota Rasta

A private legal practitioner, Divine Doste Tettey, is optimistic that the law court will grant the wish of the parents of two dreadlocked students who intend to sue Achimota Senior High School.

He also expects the possible judgement to give clarity on such issues.

“I think that if this case goes to court and the court pronounces that the students have rights enshrined that must be protected, it will also fine-tune the law and put some measures in place so it is reasonable,” Mr. Tettey said to Citi News.

“The court will now come out with certain clear-cut criteria for schools and other institutions or any other bodies that want to uphold religious freedoms.”

Authorities of the Achimota School last week Thursday turned away the dreadlocked students sparking outrage.

The school asked the parents to cut off their hair or find another school for them.

Following this, families of the dreadlocked students announced their intention to pursue legal action.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) initially directed the school to accept the students, according to earlier reports.

But on Monday, Achimota School after a meeting between the parents of the two boys and officials of the Ghana Education Service, rejected the directive to admit the two students with dreadlocks.

A lawyer with the Rastafari Council, Ras Tetteh Wayo, further claimed the GES had made a U-turn on its initial directive.

In his view, the initial story on the GES directive to Achimota School “was to quell public outcry.”

Maanaa Myers, the mother of one of the dreadlocked students, also said she now believes the initial indication from the GES was “a PR stunt…to bring down the sensationalism and interestingly, it has played out to how I was thinking”.