Accra: The National Muslim Conference of Ghana (NMCG) says that the growing calls for Muslims to attend their schools are calls for religious segregation that will affect the country’s religious peace and harmony.

“Christians in Christian schools and Muslims in Muslim schools is a pseudo-apartheid system which can only entrench hatred for one religious group against another, a gas chamber waiting for the hazardous ignition to explode,” the organisation stated in a press statement.

It warned Ghanaians against taking for granted the peace the country enjoys in a turbulent sub-region with religious underpinnings.

The organisation, which is made up of representatives from all the Muslim sects and key organisations, has observed that the neighbourly relationship that exists between Christians and Muslims emanated from bonding together due to attending the same schools, sharing rooms and eating together.

“Such friendship cannot be maintained within an environment in which minority religious groups’ rights are violated,” the statement highlighted.

According to the organisation, Muslims in Ghana do understand the need to collaborate and cooperate with other religious communities for the development of the country.

NMCG called on mission schools desiring absolute doctrinal control to voluntarily return public funds invested in the institution, decline the use of state curriculum and textbooks, pay teachers from its coffers and opt out of national placement. 

“Until then, they are bound by the Constitution and the MoU,” the statement read.

The statement was in response to Christian leadership who issued a statement in support of Wesley Girls Senior High School, who over decades have implemented a policy that prevents Muslim girls from observing daily prayers and fasting throughout their stay in school.

A private legal practitioner, Shafic Osman, has sued the school for infringing on the rights of the students at the supreme court.