The President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC), Most Reverend Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, has explained the reason the headmistress of Wesley Girls’ Senior High School’s prevented a student from fasting, leading to outrage and a lawsuit.
According to him, the student was stopped from participating in the fast for health and academic purposes, and not out of religious intolerance.
Speaking on TV3 and monitored by NewsDesksGH on Wednesday, November 26, he explained that it is known amongst school authorities.
“For anybody who has run a school before, boarding school or secondary school, you know that at that age, young people are not allowed or encouraged to fast for health reasons and academic reasons.”
He explained that school authorities face serious responsibility for the wellbeing of students under their care, adding that the headmistress’ caution was based on safeguarding students, not discrimination.
“So the headmistress, if you allow anything to happen to anybody’s daughter they will hold you responsible and she will not take that responsibility upon herself, that’s why she said please no, to be on the safer side,” he stated.
On Tuesday, November 25 a joint statement was issued by the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) and the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) in which they defended the right of mission schools to maintain their Christian identity and rules.
The two bodies highlighted a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) validated on April 15, 2024, and developed by the Conference of Managers of Education Units (COMEU) with support from the National Peace Council.
The MoU was designed to guide Government-Assisted Mission Schools and affirm the long-standing partnership between faith-based institutions and the state.
Quoting directly from the memorandum, he noted that fasting is permitted but must follow established procedure to ensure the student’s welfare.
“On the issue of fasting children should be allowed to fast. However, permission would be sought by parents, guardians from school authorities and requisite counseling provided before a period of fast commences. Students will however abide by all school rules and regulations. Any health related effects of the fast on the other hand are not the schools responsibility.”
Most Rev. Gyamfi emphasised that issues arise only if a school refuses a parent’s request to allow their ward to fast.
“Unless anybody’s parents has gone to ask ‘I want my child to fast’ and then the school says ‘no we won’t allow you to fast’ then that will be religious intolerance,” he said.
