Mission schools and religious tolerance in Ghana

When you visit Bishop Herman College in Kpando, a veritable stronghold of Catholicism in Ghana, ask to be shown where Muslim students congregate for their ‘salat’ prayers every day. You will be directed to a quiet and convenient spot close to the school refectory.

This has been the normal practice and tradition in this famous Catholic school for many decades.  From the look of things, this peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims in the school is unlikely to be disturbed for many years to come. This is how it is and this is how it will be.

Religious tolerance has been the hallmark of mission institutions and schools in Ghana. In Holy Child School, Cape Coast, for example, there has been a time when the school head prefect was a Muslim. There are many more examples.

In OLA College of Education, Cape Coast, just a couple of years ago, two Muslim ladies were also prefects. In fact, the best behaved lady in the college during the same period was a Muslim. In OLA Senior High School, Ho, Muslim students blend beautifully in the smooth disciplinary landscape. The question of Muslim students wearing ‘hijab’ when every student is supposed to wear low-cut hairstyles has never really come up.  

Rev. Father Samuel Batsa, retired headmaster of St Thomas Aquinas SHS, Accra, recalled how at the Holy Mass marking his 40 years as a priest, the school choir put up a splendid performance. He was all the more elated to know that almost half of the choristers were Muslims. He had been headmaster of that school for 19 years and remembered how St Thomas Aquinas SHS had remained all those years the preferred school of choice for many Muslim parents, “The Muslim students lived with their Christian counterparts in a spirit of tolerance and understanding,” he said.

In the Catholic diocese of Navrongo-Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region of Ghana, religious tolerance and peace had almost been taken for granted. Rev. Father Lazarus Anondee, Co-ordinator of the National Catholic Service Centre of the National Catholic Secretariat, recalled how Muslim and Christian students in Catholic schools used to get on happily. Someone once wrote: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”

Rev. Father John Addae-Boateng, the immediate Past General Manager of Catholic Schools, believes that Ghanaians are indeed blessed to be living in peace with one another in a spirit of mutual respect.  “We should see ourselves as one whether at school, at workplaces or in the community,” he says.

He is convinced that in senior high schools (SHSs), colleges and institutions of higher learning belonging to missions, there is a real opportunity for students to interact with others. “This is the time to show interest in the beliefs and practices of others. A rare opportunity for them to learn.” 

He, however, believes that once a person agrees to go to a school with a particular religious persuasion, one should expect to conform to the religious practice prevailing there. “After all, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

Rev. Father Addae-Boateng is not happy about the apparent systematic weakening of the position of faith-based unit managers within the Ghana Education Service (GES). He thinks that the necessary consultation and co-operation are not being done.

As the heat of the argument whether to permit the wearing of the ‘hijab’ in  mission schools or not slowly diminishes, it is hoped that more public SHSs would be encouraged to take in more and more students of all religious persuasions. It is hoped that their particular religious dressing code, as well as other demands would be taken into consideration. It would be interesting to watch how school authorities would work to keep a potentially explosive situation under control.

Alhaji Razak El-Alawa, writing in the Saturday, March 14, 2015 issue of the Daily Graphic wrote: “Over the years, Muslims and Christians in Ghana have been living in unity as brothers and sisters. It will be difficult to find any country that is so tolerant like Ghana when it comes to religion.”  I couldn’t agree more with him. Extremist views can shatter our peaceful coexistence and throw everything overboard. Let us all resolve to use dialogue to address this impasse. We owe it a duty to ensure that Ghana remains an exemplar of religious tolerance in Africa and the rest of the world.

• The writer is Executive Secretary, Dept of Social Communications.

National Catholic Secretariat, Accra.

Writer’s email: dandzide@yahoo.com