Child Rights International (CRI) is urging the government to urgently develop a clear and binding public policy to regulate religious rights and identity in secondary schools across the country.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, November 26, 2025, the organisation stressed that every child’s right to education and freedom of religion must be fully protected, insisting that no school should have the authority to deny these fundamental rights under any circumstance.
The call comes amid heightened public debate following the recent incident at Wesley Girls’ Senior High School and growing concerns over restrictions placed on students’ religious expression.
CRI observed that many mission-based schools, including Wesley Girls’, Holy Child School, and St. Louis SHS, operate based on long-standing religious traditions, unlike state-established schools such as Ghana Senior High School, Tamale SHS, and Achimota School.
The organisation questioned the government’s policy direction on the classification and regulation of these institutions, which remain government-assisted but are not fully governed by the Ghana Education Service (GES).
According to CRI, the absence of a uniform national framework has allowed schools to enforce rules that may conflict with children’s rights.
“The fundamentals needed to ensure full protection of children’s rights in secondary schools are not adequately established,” the statement said. “Public policy remains unclear on which practices schools are permitted to maintain and whether the State has provided binding directives on matters of discipline, conduct, and religious expression.”
CRI argued that once a school admits a child, it must respect the child’s identity—including their religious beliefs—and ensure that their rights are not compromised due to institutional traditions.
The organisation is therefore calling on the government to assume full regulatory oversight of all schools it supports, establish national safeguarding standards, and implement policies that guarantee uniform protection of students’ rights across the country.
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