Muslim Students At Pentecost University Angry

Even though the 1992 Constitution grants that every Ghanaian shall practice any religion of his or her choice, Muslim students at the Pentecost University College (PSU), have been barred from enjoying this fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. The Muslim students on PUC campus located at Sowutuom –Accra, have been forced by the school authorities through a strict directive to attend church service as Christians in total violation of the 1992 Constitution. The Pentecost Church in the latter part of 2012, came under severe criticism from human rights activists for demanding test for Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), as a prerequisite for the church to officiate marriages. The mandatory church attendance is likely to land the PUC in the Supreme Court for Constitutional interpretation. The Herald’s investigations revealed that Muslim students are compelled to attend the church service under the cloak of a College Assembly. While regular students of the University are made to attend the assembly on Tuesdays, their colleagues in the weekend class are made to attend theirs on Fridays. The College Assembly The Herald gathered is an Assembly of “praise and worship”, where Muslim students are forced to join their Christian counterparts to take part in a religious activity that professes God the way of the Church of Pentecost. Some of the Muslim students told The Herald that the regular church attendance conflict with their Islamic faith, as they are now being indoctrinated with the Pentecostal ideals, as all students who distance themselves from the Assembly would not be allowed to graduate. The obviously angry students lamented over the decision to force them to attend church service, describing it as an “ambush”, since they were not informed about the university’s strict religious directive, at the time of seeking admission into the school. When The Herald contacted the Head of Corporate Affairs of the University, Mr. Kye-Boateng on the issue, he insisted the Assembly was part of the curriculum for all students at PUC, but angrily questioned the number of Muslim students on campus. “How many of them do we have in the school” he questioned this reporter in an angry mood in a telephone conversation. A Moslem cleric who spoke with The Herald said that he does not understand why such a reputable church organization, like the Pentecost Church should be engaged in these outmoded practices, when the other hard line churches are redefining their doctrines in tune with modern trends. He urged the students to proceed to court if the University authorities refuse to let them graduate for not attending the church services. According to him, the church seems not to have taken any cue from the advice of President John Mahatma to religious institutions, not to force their sects on students of other religious persuasion. The Herald is in the process of finding out whether Christian students at the Islamic University in Accra, are also forced to attend Islamic prayers by the school’s authorities.       Source: The Herald