{"id":104623,"date":"2025-11-29T10:46:37","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T10:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=104623"},"modified":"2025-11-29T10:46:37","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T10:46:37","slug":"mission-schools-must-not-be-weakened-for-their-decades-of-investment-prof-bokpin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=104623","title":{"rendered":"Mission schools must not be weakened for their decades of investment \u2013 Prof. Bokpin"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Economist and Finance Professor at the University of Ghana, Professor Godfred Bokpin, has urged the government and the public to approach current debates on religious rights in mission schools with caution, warning that any reforms must not erode the identity or long-standing investments made by these institutions.<\/p>\n

His comments come amid intensifying national conversations following the Supreme Court\u2019s directive to Wesley Girls\u2019 High School to respond within 14 days to claims that Muslim students face restrictions on prayer, fasting, and the wearing of hijab. <\/p>\n

Speaking on JoyNews\u2019 Newsfile<\/strong> on Saturday, November 29, Prof. Bokpin stressed that mission schools\u2014Christian or Muslim\u2014have historically partnered with the state in delivering quality education, and their rights over the schools must be respected.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we look at it in totality, the state grants space for mission schools to preach, and this partnership has been sustained for decades. No religious body will give up its right over its mission schools\u2014they won\u2019t,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He noted that it is inherently difficult for any religion to fully exercise its practices inside mission schools of another faith, and this reality should be acknowledged rather than denied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we should be moving towards unity that recognises diversity,\u201d he said. \u201cWe must promote tolerance that gives each group a safe space to operate. As the state supports all institutions, that approach becomes more sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prof. Bokpin drew from his personal experience attending a Muslim mission school, explaining the nuanced differences even within Islamic groups. Orthodox Muslims, he said, often feel uncomfortable in Ahmadiyya schools due to differences in belief and teaching\u2014yet the Ahmadis were among the earliest to embrace Western-style education and invested heavily in establishing schools.<\/p>\n

He commended the progress Muslim communities have made in promoting education, especially for girls, describing it as a \u201cmomentum shift\u201d from past practices.<\/p>\n

However, he emphasised that this new appreciation for formal education must not become a basis to dilute, override, or undermine the values upon which mission schools were built.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis late realisation should not grant anyone the right to weaken mission schools for the investment they have made over the years,\u201d he cautioned. \u201cThey have contributed significantly to national development.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MissionEconomist and Finance Professor at the University of Ghana, Professor Godfred Bokpin, has urged the government and the public to approach current debates on religious rights in mission schools with caution, warning that any reforms must not erode the identity or long-standing investments made by these institutions.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1951,6581,7932,1883,117,10,9,7197],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hp-news-1","category-investment","category-mission-schools","category-national","category-news","category-politics","category-popular","category-prof-godfred-bokpin"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}