Two Muslims residing in Accra have petitioned the Education Minister to halt the plan to hand over mission schools to churches.
According to the petitioners, – Dr. Abdullatiff Diaby and Abdulahi Ibrahim – these mission schools though built in the colonial era have received a substantial investment from government over several decades resulting into their much transformation to date.
The petitioners added that the church does not have the funds to support and run these schools.
The petition stated that “it is wrong for government to use state resources to equip these mission schools, train its teachers and pay the salaries of both teaching and non-teaching staff and then hand over the management and administration of these schools to the church under the pretext of combating moral decadence.
“Honorable Minister as you may agree, in a multicultural, religiously diverse and a democratic setting like ours, it is dangerous to view morality through the lens of one religious group to the exclusion of all others…this is because what may pass the moral test in one religion might be viewed as immoral. Respectfully therefore we are of the humble view that handing over some schools in the country to the church will not be the panacea to the alleged moral decline but will rather eventually lead to a cobra effect.”
The petition added that “Honorable Minister we are of the view that handing over these schools to the churches will threaten the promotion of unity in religious diversity and ultimately inhibit national peace and cohesion in our ever increasing multi-cultural society.”
“Please take note, however, that we [the Petitioners] reserve the rights to avail ourselves of all means to afford by law to oppose the implementation of these policies including but not limited to the court of the law,” the petitioners further stated.
Dr. Abdullatiff Diaby and Abdulahi Ibrahim have instructed their Lawyers to sue government if their demands are not met.
