The Methodist Church Ghana has issued a statement to the general public on the Shafiz Osman and Wesley Girls’ School case.
The details of the statement are provided below:
“The attention of the Methodist Church Ghana, a proprietor of Wesley Girls’ High School (WGHS), has been drawn through the media to a pending suit in the Supreme Court titled: Shafiz Osman v. The Board of Governors, Attorney-General & Ghana Education Service. We are taking steps to obtain the official record of all proceedings, even though we have not been formally notified, to enable our legal team to take the necessary action to protect the Church’s interests.
While these processes are underway, it is important to restate the position of the Methodist Church Ghana regarding the unfortunate allegation that WGHS, as a government-assisted school, is a “public school” engaging in discriminatory practices against students of other faiths.
Since the founding of WGHS in 1836 by Harriet Wrigley, wife of the second Methodist Missionary to the then Gold Coast, Wesley Girls’ High School has been committed to the total development of the girl-child. For over 189 years, the school has faithfully pursued the principle of training the Head, Heart, and Hand for all students, without regard to race, creed, religion, or background. Over the years, WGHS has educated Methodists, Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, Eckists, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists, Agnostics, Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, and many others who have gone on to contribute meaningfully to society.
It is this strong moral, structural, and disciplinary tradition, shared by mission schools across the country, that led the Government of Ghana in the early 1960s to offer assistance in the running of WGHS and other faith-based schools. This partnership has never altered the school’s foundational Methodist character. On the contrary, the Methodist Church Ghana considers discrimination to be fundamentally inconsistent with Christian teaching and therefore incompatible with our mission.
WGHS has always openly professed its faith in God and maintained its Methodist traditions, as guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution. Its motto – “Live Pure, Speak True, Right Wrong, Follow the King” – reflects its grounding in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Likewise, the first stanza of the school hymn, which begins:
“We build our school on Thee, O Lord;
To Thee we bring our common need…”
expresses WGHS’s enduring commitment to Christian and moral formation.
All that the school requires of admitted students is respect for its traditions and adherence to an established framework carefully designed from its inception to foster unity, discipline, academic excellence, uniformity, and shared experience. As the student population grows and diversity increases, it becomes even more imperative to maintain a coherent structure that allows all students to live, study, worship, eat, and participate in school life in a manner that is orderly, manageable, and fair.
We recognise and respect the constitutional right of every student to practise her faith or non-faith within the framework of WGHS traditions. However, to create a parallel system where some students or faith groups eat, sleep, wake, study, and live separately would inevitably lead to segregation and undermine the cohesion and collective traditions of the school.
For this reason, the Conference of Managers of Education Units (COMEU), facilitated by the National Peace Council-including the Methodist Church Ghana, Presbyterian Church, Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Assemblies of God, Ghana Baptist Convention, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Office of the National Chief Imam, Ahmadiyya Mission, Salvation Army, Garrison Education, and Police Education-developed and executed an MoU for Government-Assisted and Private Mission Schools on 15 April 2024. This document outlines a framework for the harmonious coexistence of students of different faiths within mission schools, whose terms we have fully adhered to to date.
We appreciate the statements issued by the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Christian Council of Ghana, the Anglican Church of Ghana, other ecumenical bodies, and various organisations on this matter.
Our treasured Wesleyan heritage admits of no discrimination whatsoever, as attested by our known respect for other traditions and faiths. We wish to assure the public that we have not departed from our long-standing values of sound education, backed by respect and moral principles that have guided our mission since 1835.
The Methodist Church Ghana remains committed to dialogue and collaboration with all relevant stakeholders to ensure peace, understanding, and mutual respect among all faiths and traditions.”
The statement issued was signed by Most Rev. Johnson K. Asamoah-Gyadu, the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana
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