Parental choice cannot override students’ constitutional Religious rights – Eduwatch warns

A national conversation on religious freedom in Ghana’s senior high schools has taken a new turn as Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) cautions that parental choice cannot be used to justify any breach of constitutionally protected religious rights.

Executive Director Kofi Asare stressed that discussions surrounding faith expression in mission schools must be guided by facts rather than isolated cases. He noted that for many decades, students in most senior high schools across the country have freely practiced their religion without restriction, a tradition that should not be distorted by recent debates.

He warned that some public arguments are creating a misleading picture that Ghana is drifting toward a time when long-standing freedoms may no longer be respected, even though the Constitution and various international frameworks firmly uphold religious liberty.

Asare highlighted two key principles at the core of these protections: non-discrimination and non-compulsion. According to him, the non-discrimination principle means that no student should ever receive different treatment because of their faith, and all should have equal access to practice their religion. He referenced constitutional provisions, particularly Article 17, which prohibits discrimination on any grounds including religion.

He further explained the principle of non-compulsion, stating that the idea of founding a school to promote a particular denomination does not give room to compel students to abandon or suppress their own beliefs. Compelling or pressuring a student into another religion, he noted, contradicts both constitutional and human rights principles.

Responding to claims that parental choice gives mission schools the freedom to impose certain religious expectations, Asare argued that such reasoning is flawed. In his view, the right to choose a school does not and cannot supersede constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.

He emphasized that no level of parental choice can overturn the fundamental right to religious freedom, which is anchored on equality and the absence of coercion.

Asare concluded that applying different rules to students based solely on the school they attend amounts to discrimination and undermines the religious rights that Ghana’s Constitution seeks to protect.