The Ghana National Associating of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has asked its members to open the flood gates for all kinds of hairstyle and dressing on senior high school campuses across the country.

The directive follows a ruling by the Human Rights Court 1 Division of an Accra High Court that ordered Achimota school to admit two Rastafarian students.

The two Tyrone Iras Marhguy and Oheneba Nkrabea were about two months ago denied admission into the SHS because they refused to cut their dreadlocks.

The aggrieved students and their parents proceeded to court after the Ghana Education Service (GES) made a U-turn on its directive to Achimota school to admit them amidst a huge public debate on the matter claiming the school’s decision is a human rights violation. 

The court presided over by Justice Gifty Adjei upheld the argument of the boys and ordered Achimota school to admit them.

Reacting to the court ruling Angel Carbonu, President of NAGRAT said the ruling by extension means teachers have no business checking hairdos and dressing of students on campus.

He said: “I don’t think we are going to lose a single hair on those ruling. We raised concerns that let us obey school rules, 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 it.

“But let us also not limit this to rasta, any form of hair-do I will admonish my members that the [court] said rasta, that will be a very myopic way of looking at it. [it is] any form of hair-do, Mohican hair-do is a hair-do, rasta is a hair-do, bushy afro hair is a hair-do, sakora is hair-do, we don’t have to waste our time on some of these things.

“People can wear suit, smock, batakari, anything, those who want to walk barefooted can walk barefooted to school, your duty is to teach geography, your duty is to teach maths and your duty is to teach English language and all the other subject that is the extension of my understanding [of the ruling].”