Church bans members from attending school

An Elder of a church at the Ahanta West District of the Western Region has ordered members not to enroll their children in school.

The leader of the Busua branch of Sacred Action Church, Mark Sowah, reportedly told members to follow the footsteps of Jesus and Peter – powerful Bible characters- who never got formal education. Sowah has also asked the members to quit their jobs and dedicate their time to God’s work.

Ghana has made some significant progress in attaining the Millennium Development goal on education, especially in the areas of primary enrollment and gender parity.

The government, together with development stakeholders (traditional rulers, pastors and NGOs), have been working hard to ensure that every child has access to early childhood care and education.

They also intend attaining universal primary education for all boys and girls as part of efforts toward improving education.

Queen mother of Busua, Nana Akesi Apenteng II, said her investigations showed that the church successfully got its members to withdraw their children from the Classrooms.

“I paid a visit to the basic school in our community and the teacher explained to me how most of their students are not in school because of religious reasons,” she told STARR NEWS correspondent Emmanuel Ohene Gyan.

In an exclusive interview, the District Church Secretary of the Sacred Action Church, Evangelist John Kofi Essien, said what the Busua branch leader is propagating is not part of their doctrine.

“I can’t just understand it and it is not the teachings of the mother church so I can’t in any way explain…teaching them that Jesus never attended any school, Peter never attended any school is very contradictory.”

Essien added: “The presiding leader has asked everyone to own a Bible and if you did not go to school or do not know how to read and write, how are you going to read the Bible, how are you going to understand it?”