A former Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr. Charles Aheto-Tsegah, has injected a critical dose of reality into the national discourse on religious freedom in schools, cautioning that the highly regimented nature of Ghana’s educational system makes full accommodation of diverse religious practices a near-impossible task.
Dr. Aheto-Tsegah’s comments, made on Channel One TV on Saturday, November 29, follow a recent directive by the Supreme Court instructing Wesley Girls’ Senior High School to respond to a lawsuit alleging that the institution restricts Muslim students from fully practicing their faith.
The case has reopened a tense debate over the balance between constitutional rights and institutional culture.
Dr. Aheto-Tsegah argued that the challenge is not one of religious intolerance, but of logistical and systemic structure. He detailed how the boarding school model operates on a precise, minute-by-minute schedule—from a typical 4:30 AM wake-up call to the 10:00 PM lights-out—leaving no slack for significant deviations.
He stressed that the school environment functions as a strict, programmed entity where every second is accounted for, making it structurally incompatible with accommodating additional time slots for varied religious observances without disrupting the entire routine.
“When it comes to the concept of freedom to practice your religion, it is a very difficult concept in education because the school is a system. It is programmed.
We manage every second in schools. When you structure the school system, you have a time when students should be at a particular place at a particular time,” Dr. Aheto-Tsegah stated.
He further elaborated on the complexity of introducing new routines into this established order:
“So, it then becomes some very interesting reconfiguration to slot in what we are discussing here as freedom of religion.”
The former GES boss highlighted that this systemic rigidity is amplified in Mission Schools, which form the backbone of Ghana’s second-cycle education system and whose history often predates the government’s formal involvement.
“In mission schools they are established by mission. They are in partnership with government for various reasons so it becomes very difficult for them to suddenly adjust to a shake up that will allow them to incorporate all of the emerging issues of religion that are coming in our modern-day parlance. A lot of patience and time is required to deal with this,” he stated.
This position aligns with the strong stance taken by the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) and the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), who, in a statement dated November 25, 2025, underscored their proprietary claim over their institutions.
The Churches argued that the original establishment of their schools by denominations such as Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Anglican was an “expression of our missionary mandate”. They maintain that while the State supports the schools by paying teacher salaries and regulating the curriculum, this constitutes a partnership, not a takeover of the ownership and identity of the institutions.
The Churches further cautioned that allowing diverse religious practices, including separate prayer schedules, could fracture communal unity and discipline. Both the GCBC and the CCG believe that students choose mission schools aware of their proven track record in academic excellence, discipline, and moral formation.
Dr. Aheto-Tsegah concluded that any reforms to integrate broader religious freedoms must be introduced deliberately and with sensitivity, cautioning that abrupt changes could severely disrupt the operational balance and structure essential for schools to function effectively.
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