Christian Council, Catholic Bishops endorse Methodist Church position on fasting

The leadership of the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) and the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) have called for dialogue on matters pertaining to the administration of mission schools in the country.

This follows the decision by authorities of the Wesley Girls Senior High School, as well as the position of the Methodist Church Ghana, on fasting in mission schools.

While endorsing the position of the Methodist Church Ghana, the CCG and GCBC believes that the school’s decision was purely in the interest of the students.

A joint communique issued on Wednesday, May 5, the CCG and GCBC said “We, the leadership of the CCG and GCBC have followed with keen interest the discussions about the authorities of Wesley Girls Senior High School, who allegedly prevented a student from fasting in the ongoing Ramadan.

“We have discussed the issue prayerfully and have studied the various press statements that some stakeholders of education have released on the matter.

“We, therefore, wish to state that we took strong exception to the directives of the Ghana Education Service (GES) issued in their press release on May 1, 2021, which stated that:

Read also: 'No fasting on campus' - Methodist Church rejects GES directive to Wesley Girls

“The Ghana Education Service, therefore, directs authorities of Wesley Girls High School… to allow any such student who wishes to fast for any religious reason to do so.

“The Parents of any such student are also directed to write to the School indicating that the school shall not be held liable for any health condition of the student as a result of the fast.”

It said they discussed matters of both Church and National interest, adding that; “We deem it appropriate as Christian Leaders, to speak to and bring the following issues to the attention of Government and people of Ghana, especially to members of our Church and communities.”

The leadership of the CCG and GCBC appealed to the GES to avoid making unilateral decisions when it comes to matters of concern on Mission schools,” the communique said.

It said, “The Missions and the State are in partnership in the administration of our schools and we wish to state that all stakeholders must appreciate and respect the partnership.”

It further appealed to the GES to appreciate the religious space that the Mission schools provide the churches, saying; “The Missions schools are both secular and religious. We, therefore, expect all who attended Mission schools to comply with the code of conduct of the schools to uphold the discipline and high academic standards of the school.”

The CCG and the GCBC called for dialogue by stakeholders on matters that affect the administration of Mission schools in the country for the interest of peace and harmonious nation building.

“To this end, we would like to seek audience with the Minister of Education at his earliest convenient time to build consensus on these matters to prevent future occurrences,” the communique said.