The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) and the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) have warned that growing pressure on Christian mission schools to accommodate separate religious practices for non-Christian students could strain the long-standing partnership between Church and State.
In a statement issued on November 25, 2025, the two Christian bodies emphasized that mission schools have, for generations, collaborated with government in education, healthcare, and social services, partnerships built on mutual respect for the schools’ Christian identity.
A simmering national debate over religious freedoms in government-assisted mission schools has intensified in recent months. At the centre of the controversy is whether non-Christian students, particularly Muslims, should be allowed to observe their full religious practices, including separate prayer systems, fasting protocols, dress codes, and dedicated worship spaces within Christian-founded institutions.
The GCBC and CCG have taken a firm stance, asserting that altering the schools’ religious framework would undermine their autonomy and core mission. They argue that accommodating multiple parallel religious systems would impose administrative burdens, weaken discipline, and disrupt the communal unity that has long defined the success of mission schools.
“Our position is not rooted in hostility towards other faiths, but in a desire to preserve the integrity of institutions we have built and nurtured for over a century,” the statement said.
“Permitting separate religious practices, uniforms, and prayer schedules would fracture the communal unity and discipline that underpin our school’s ethos.”
According to the statement, mission schools were established by various churches as part of their missionary mandate, acquiring land, building infrastructure, and shaping school ethos long before the modern Ghanaian state existed. Government support, they stressed, came later and does not translate into ownership or authority to redefine the institutions’ identity.
“State support is a partnership, not a takeover,” the Christian leaders insisted. “Government assistance does not diminish this identity, nor does it confer the right to alter the core religious character that defines these institutions.”
They also dismissed claims that their position infringes on the rights of non-Christian students, noting that parents freely choose mission schools with full knowledge of their Christian environment.
“No student is compelled to attend a Christian mission school,” the statement noted. “Because attendance is voluntary, it is unreasonable for anyone to demand that we change our core character to accommodate their religious preferences.”
The leaders pointed to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) adopted in April 2024 for Government-Assisted and Private Mission Schools, which promotes inclusivity, tolerance, and respect for diversity. They argue that the MoU already provides adequate guidance for managing religious differences without diluting the Christian foundation of the schools.
Grounding their argument in constitutional provisions, the GCBC and CCG emphasized that freedom of association and religious liberty apply to institutions as well as individuals.
“As Christian communities, we have the constitutional right to operate schools that express our faith,” they said. “To demand that we suppress the Christian identity of our schools would infringe upon this very freedom.”
The Christian bodies concluded that defending the heritage of mission schools is not an act of exclusion but a necessary affirmation of religious freedom, institutional autonomy, and educational excellence.
“Financial assistance from the state must not be mistaken for state ownership,” the statement warned. “Nor does it grant any party the authority to redefine the character of the institutions we established.”
By Theresa Kpordzo//Newswatchgh.com
