Students’ hair grooming controversy in Ghana: An analysis of the Achimota Senior High School and dreadlocked students’ enrolment denial

Abstract

Hair holds profound cultural, religious, and aesthetic significance in African societies. However, hair grooming policies in Ghanaian schools, heavily influenced by colonial legacies, have sparked significant controversies, as observed in the Achimota Senior High School and dreadlocked Rastafarian students’ admission denial. Achimota School’s refusal to enrol them because of their natural hair length led Tyrone Iras Marhguy to file a landmark lawsuit at the Accra High Court, ultimately winning the case against the school. The ruling highlights the conflicting tensions between hair grooming policies in Ghanaian educational institutions and child's rights. This study critically examines the Achimota School case, focusing on the sensational public controversies, litigation, and their psychological effects on the students, particularly Tyrone Iras Marhguy. Utilising a qualitative case study design, the study explores the lived experiences of Tyrone, and key stakeholders, from school authorities to advocacy groups, through interviews and analysis of media reportage. The findings reveal a deep-seated clash between the colonial hair grooming legacy and Ghana’s Indigenous cultural landscape, highlighting an urgent need for policy reforms that honour students’ rights to Ghanaian hair cultural expression. The study also underscores that the Achimota School’s refusal to enrol the two Rasta students, the public controversies, and the legal tussle had negatively affected Tyrone’s psychological wellbeing as a minor. Therefore, the study calls on the Ministry of Education, and Ghana Education Service to urgently reform the existing colonially-induced students’ hair grooming policies in Ghana to accommodate indigenous Ghanaian hair grooming culture that ensures all students access education devoid of psychological trauma or any form of hindrance.