The Accra High Court’s Human Rights Division has ordered Achimota School to admit the two Rastafarian students.
The Human Rights Division of the High Court, presided over by Justice Gifty Agyei Addo, found that the laws in question cannot impair the fundamental human rights of two pupils.
Tyron Iras Marhguy and Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea filed a lawsuit against the school’s board of governors, the Minister of Education, the Ghana Education Service, and the Attorney General in order to have their fundamental human rights enforced.
The applicants asked the court to “declare that the 1st Respondent’s (Achimota School Board of Governors) failure and or refusal to admit or enroll the Applicant on the basis of his Rastafarian religious inclination, beliefs, and culture characterized by his keeping of Rasta is a violation of his fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed under the 1992 constitution, particularly Articles 57 and 58“.
The two pupils also requested “an order aimed at [Achimota School] to quickly admit or enrol the applicant in order for him to complete his study without interruption.”
In addition, the petitioners requested damages for “inconvenience, embarrassment, waste of time, and violation of their fundamental rights”.