Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
12 November 2007
document
A statement issued by the Catholic bishops of Ghana during their plenary in Kumasi last week:
We, the Ghana Catholic Bishops, find it disappointing and discouraging that contrary to the aspirations and expectations of the overwhelming majority of parents in Ghana, educational reforms since independence have systematically aimed at edging out religion from education.
What is even more worrying, embarrassing and unacceptable is that the ongoing educational reforms which should have learnt from past mistakes have aggravated the already deplorable situation by removing religious and moral education from the time table, and condemned it to be treated as a mere ' concept', and even then, to be treated only as appendices to other subjects. As Shepherds, and speaking on behalf of the vast majority of Ghanaian people and other Ghanaians who have expressed concern about the situation, we can no longer accept this sidelining of religion in any form or shape.
We therefore call for an immediate inclusion of Religion and Moral education in the syllabus as a subject on its own and be given all the attention it deserves. Sidelining religion and morality from education is tantamount to condemning the human person to lack of means to developing himself/herself fully to be a human being in the society.
The overwhelming advantage of imparting religious principles in our schools can simply not be equalled and it is these principles that can help negate the culture of vice and iniquity into which our society is being plunged deeper and deeper, even in the fiftieth anniversary of our independence.
We are categorical in stating that it is religion that sets for society rules of love, rules of mercy, rules of forgiveness, rules of justice, rules of patience and tolerance and hard work.
On behalf of Ghanaian parents and all Ghanaians who believe in the efficacy of religion and therefore, send their children to mission schools and in fulfilment of our prophetic role in society, we have no choice but to clearly and categorically reject certain positions in the past and present educational policies. These include the following:
1. We object to the gradual but systematic exclusion of the teaching of religion and morality from schools. We find it unacceptable that religion should be relegated to the level of a mere 'concept'. It is even more deplorable that no provisions whatsoever have been made for the teaching of religion and morality at the other levels of the educational system.
In the present circumstances we are compelled to instruct the heads of all our Catholic educational institutions: Nurseries, Kindergartens, Primary and Junior High Schools, Senior High Schools, Training Colleges, Vocational and Technical Schools, to make religious instruction a compulsory subject to be taught at the beginning of every school day.
2. We also find it unacceptable that the management of our schools should be subjected to District Directors of Education. We insist that the supervision of Schools that are built by us or handed over to us as Catholic Schools, whether they be assisted by the Government or purely private, should be and will be managed by the Church in accordance with its principles. We therefore call upon the Government to take steps to amend the Ghana Education Service Act, Act 506.
3. We find it unacceptable, and we will no longer accept that non-Catholics head our Catholic Educational institutions, or for that matter that their assistants be non-Catholic.
We insist and now require that the Head of a Catholic institution and his or her assistant should pass the test of approval by us. Naturally we claim the same rights for other religious bodies, whether they be Christian or Islamic. Since to every rule there is an exception, where it is absolutely necessary for a non-Catholic to become the head of a Catholic school we can accept him or her but then the person must be approved by us, just as, in fact even a Catholic must be approved as a head of our school.
4. We cannot accept and we do not accept any longer the situation where teachers are posted to our schools without being passed through our Regional Managers. We cannot accept, and we can no longer accept that transfers are made from our schools without the knowledge of our Regional Managers. We insist that our Regional Managers be given the authority to post newly trained teachers allocated to them. The present system whereby Regional Managers only prepare posting schedules for District Directors to write the appointment letters is unacceptable and will no longer be accepted.
We cannot accept the situation where the position of the District Director of Education is higher than the Regional Manager of Mission Schools and the position where District Director of Education is of equal rank with the General Manager of Mission Schools. We therefore call upon the Government as a matter of urgency to pass an Act to regulate the partnership agreement between Government and the Missions in respect of Mission Schools.
We would like to draw attention to the letter from the Ministry of Education dated 18 October 1999 under the heading "THE RIGHT OF EDUCATIONAL UNITS TO MANAGE AND SUPERVISE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ESTABLISHED AND DEVELOPED BY THEIR RESPECTIVE RELIGIOUS BODIES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE GOVERNMENT". In this letter the Ministry of Education endorsed the recommendations made by the Ghana Education Service Council.
Among these was the right of educational units to manage and supervise their schools in partnership with the Government. The letter also endorsed the job descriptions proposed by the Council for the three grades of Educational Unit Managers, namely the General Manager, the Regional Manager and the Local Manager. Since the directives of the Ministry of Education contained in this letter have not been abrogated or repealed, and we insist that they should not be, we urge the Ministry to respect the stipulations of the letter.
5. We insist and we require that where a teacher, Catholic or non-Catholic, teaching in a Catholic school shows a behaviour pattern that is contrary to Catholic religious and moral principles, he or she be sanctioned appropriately.
6. We insist and now we require that the majority of the members of the Board of Governors of our schools be appointed by us.
7. Our objection at the initial stages of the use of computers to place students in schools remains. While it might have relieved heads of schools of the pressures that parents brought upon them, the system has not solved the problem of irregularity in the selection and placement of students. At best, the irregularity has been shifted from the Heads of schools to influential people who manipulate the machines, or have them manipulated to suit their wishes. The system denies parents and guardians their fundamental right to choose for their wards those schools that are in line with their faith. Furthermore it deprives our schools of their Catholic character, and ignores the purposes for which the schools were setup.
8. We are aware that agents of political and financial institutions from the Western World require our policy makers to sacrifice some of our rights, values and traditions such as, the teaching of religion in schools as a condition of granting financial assistance. We caution our policy makers to be circumspect in this regard.
9. It is in the light of the above that we the Catholic Bishops and indeed all Catholics, and all seriously religious people as well as many other Ghanaians are looking up to and expecting the government cooperate with us to promote religious and moral education in our schools and use it as the most important tool to combat the indiscipline, moral depravity and corruption at all levels in our society.
We urge all Catholic Men and Women and all Catholic Societies in the Church, to register their protest against the removal of Religious and moral education from the Curriculum and to insist on its re-introduction on the time table.
In addition, we urge our Priests and Religious to lead the Faithful in our Parishes and outstations in prayers and vigils for all who oppose the teaching of religion and morality in our schools.
Finally, we invite all Christians, Muslims and adherents of Traditional Religion to join us in the campaign against this highest form of social injustice aimed at trampling on our human rights, despising and degrading our faith in God and the values He has ordained for us.
We pray with all Ghanaians that God may continue to bless the nation.
Signed by: Most Rev. Lucas Abadamloora, Bishop of Navrongo-Bolgatanga and President of Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference
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