Afrikania Mission Opposes Re-introduction Of RME In Schools

The Afrikania Mission, a traditional African religious group has expressed displeasure at President Kufuor’s directive to the Education Ministry to re-introduce the teaching of Religious and Moral Education (RME) in schools. The Mission says the teaching of RME in schools does not promote morality, but rather promotes foreign cultures. Speaking to Joy News, Mr. Kofi Kyei Ahadzi, Head of Research of the Mission said what is contained in the Bible and Koran are simply the cultures of the countries that introduced Christianity and Islam to Ghana and could therefore, not teach morality to Ghanaians. He said, in the Bible, King David was reported to have ordered the murder of someone so he could take the man’s wife. And he asked “is this the kind of morality we want to teach our children?” In recent times there have been debates in the country following the removal of RME from the school curriculum. While the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Presbyterian Church, the Ahmadiya Mission including some individuals have called for the re-introduction of RME into the school curriculum, one school of thought have argued that RME in itself does not guarantee the inculcation of moral values. President Kufuor, in response to the calls by the religious groups, gave a directive to the Ministry of Education to re-introduce RME in schools. The Afrikania Mission thinks it is unnecessary to re-introduce RME because it is nothing less than imposition of foreign cultures on Ghanaians. Mr. Ahadzi argues that education can not teach morality, saying that, the issues that promote morality are not being tackled. He also said the kinds of movies that are shown on TV in the country are some of the causes of growing immorality in the country. According to him, the teaching of morality is the responsibility of parents because children learn from their parents.