Angel Carbonu, President of NAGRAT
• NAGRAT President says the High Court ruling of the Achimota and Rasta students’ case will permit all kinds of hairdo in schools
• An Accra High Court ordered Achimota school to enrol the Rasta students
• Carbonu indicated that his worry is to obey the ruling of the court
Angel Carbonu, President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) says the Accra High Court ruling ordering Achimota School to enrol the two Rastafarian students will allow all kinds of hairdo by students.
He told Joy FM on Monday, May 31, 2021, monitored by GhanaWeb that the ruling by the court will grant permission to other individuals to also hold their religious beliefs superior over school rules which have been instituted to create a conducive environment for teaching and learning.
He said his colleague teachers will not lose a single hair on the judgement delivered by Justice Gifty Addo.
When asked if the judgement will open the floodgate to all manner of hairstyles in various secondary schools, Angel Carbonu said:
“We raised concerns that let us obey school rules. That if you take your child to school, obey school rules. If the court feels that the school rules are not necessary, so be it. I don’t think teachers will lose a single hair on this. But let us also not limit this to Rasta, any form of hairdo should be allowed in the school and I will admonish my members that you don’t go and say they said Rasta, that will be a very myopic way of looking at it.
“Any form of hairdo, Mohican hairdo – is a hairdo, Rasta is a hairdo, bushy afro hair is a hairdo, ‘sakora’ is hairdo. We don’t have to waste our time on some of these things. People can wear suits, smocks. For those who want to walk barefooted to school, your duty is to teach Geography, Maths, English language and all the other subjects. That is the extension and that is my understanding of the ruling.”
He indicated that for now, his “worry is to obey the ruling of the court to the extent that it takes…”
“Someone has Rasta, another has Mohican, another person will have Afro. Are they not hairdos? Why should we discriminate? Someone wants to wear togas, trouser, another wants to wear shorts, are they all not pants?” Carbonu asks.
When prompted by the host that the ruling has something to do with religion and not necessarily fashion, Angel Carbonu retorted, “who determines religion, if I decide to be a Mohican religious person, who will determine that for me. If it is my religion to shave my hair to the scalp, who determines that for me. If it is my religion to wear Jerry curls, who decides that for me?”