An Islamic scholar, Dr. Sheik Ibrahim Ibn Saana has described mission school’s refusal to allow Muslim students observe Islamic practices while on campus as an “institutionalized religious apartheid.”
Speaking in an interview on TV3’s NewsCentral, Wednesday, November 26, 2025, Sheik Saana explained that the by-laws of mission schools like Wesley Girls High School which bars students of any religion aside Christianity from observing their religious practices is a contravention of the 1992 constitution.
He said the constitution allows every Ghanaian the freedom to freely practice their religion in public and private.
“A situation where we institutionalise discriminatory religious practices, it is akin to apartheid, a religiously institutionalized apartheid because whatever by-laws you institutionalise in your schools, they must not override the national constitution,” he stated.
Sheik Ibrahim Ibn Saana questioned the rationale of the school’s insistence of its religious identity on Muslim students.
“What is wrong in allowing a Muslim to fast during the month of Ramadan? What is wrong with allowing a Muslim girl to pray, in fact each prayer never takes more than five minutes.
“But to say that when you come to Wesley Girls you must be a Christian throughout, it looks like a deliberately institutionalized religious apathy,” he stressed.
Commenting on the Christian Council of Ghana and the Catholic Bishops Conference justification of mission schools’ religious identity, he noted that their position will not promote religious tolerance.
“The Christian Council position while it is their right to say what they said, I don’t think it engenders national cohesion and religious tolerance.
“I think the position they have taken is not going to help us a country,” he said.
His comment comes amid legal challenges involving the rights of Muslim students in mission schools, including the ongoing case against Wesley Girls’ Senior High School.
The Supreme Court has permitted Democracy Hub to join the case against Wesley Girls’ Senior High School as amicus curiae. The case, brought by lawyer Shafic Osman, alleges that the school prevents Muslim students from praying, fasting and observing other religious duties.
The Court has ordered Wesley Girls’ to respond formally to the claims within 14 days.
