Leading member of the United Party (UP), Solomon Owusu, has defended Wesley Girls’ enforcement of long-standing school rules amid the lawsuit challenging its refusal to allow Muslim students to fast or pray on campus.
The Director of Communications for the United Party, during a discussion on TV3 monitored by MyNewsGh, argued that schools cannot be compelled to abandon the principles that built their reputations.
“Wesley Girls School must insist… they must insist on what has brought the school to where it is, for which reason parents want to send their wards there,” he said.
Owusu maintained that discipline is central to the success of top-performing schools and should not be compromised.
“If you are a young man and you are going to school, are you going to learn discipline or you want to do what pleases you?” he asked, adding that conforming to school rules has always been part of Ghana’s educational culture.
He rejected arguments that students’ rights should override institutional standards.
“We must not introduce impunity in our system. The school says ABC, that’s why we learn discipline. After school, if you want to do your own, go and do your own thing.”
Owusu insisted that faith-based institutions should not be coerced into altering long-held norms. “They can go to court and get their ruling. You go and meet the teachers there, what is this business of ‘we are going to practice our religious faith’?”
He linked the controversy to a broader erosion of discipline in schools. “Ever since you started all these businesses, the quality is even going down. We are not allowing the schools to implant in these wards the discipline that we used to know.”
According to him, parents must stop encouraging confrontations with school authorities. “You parents, adults… instead of encouraging them to be happy, you are here creating problems.”
