Tyrone Marhguy, the young Rastafarian initially denied admission to Achimota School due to his dreadlocks but later admitted following a court order, has received two prestigious awards from the American Mathematics Olympiad 2023 for his exceptional accomplishments in Grade 12.
Marhguy secured the title of the 2023 overall national top scorer, earning the Gold medal after competing with over 150,000 students worldwide.
Additionally, he was honored with the Vanda Science International Olympiad in the Silver category, surpassing 38,000 test-takers.
In recognition of his academic excellence, Marhguy has been officially inducted into the International Junior Honour Society, 2023.
On December 19, Marhguy achieved remarkable success in the West African Senior Secondary School Examinations (WASSCE), securing an impressive 8 As.
He has also achieved a remarkable feat by attaining the 99th percentile globally in the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).
The SAT is a widely recognized and competitive examination used by many universities in the United States to assess students’ abilities before they enroll in university.
Marhguy scored an impressive 1500 out of a maximum 1600, ranking in the 99th percentile. This means he performed better than 99% of all the candidates who took the examination in the year 2022. Such a high score is particularly noteworthy as only 1 out of every 100 candidates typically attains this level of achievement.
It is alleged that the government, via the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General, spent about GHC85,000 in the legal case between Achimota School and Tyrone Iras Marhguy, Oheneba Nkrabea; two Rastafarian students over admission to the institution.
Tyrone Iras Marhguy and Oheneba Nkrabea were denied admission by Achimota School in 2021 due to his dreadlocks. The denial of admission led to a court intervention in May 2021.
An Accra High Court delivered its ruling on Monday, May 31, 2021. Justice Gifty Adjei Addo, the Presiding Judge, disagreed with the submissions of the Attorney General and granted all the reliefs separately sought by the embattled students except the relief of compensation in the case of Tyrone Marhguy.
According to Justice Addo, it was preposterous for the Attorney General to have even suggested that the two were not students in the first place. Justice Gifty Adjei Addo consequently directed Achimota School to admit the two Rastafarian students.
But Achimota School and the Attorney-General’s office filed an appeal challenging the High Court’s order for the school to admit dreadlock-wearing student, Tyrone Marhguy.
According to the school, the court among others erred by indicating that the rules and regulations of Achimota School with regard to ensuring uniformity in appearance is unlawful and interferes with the manifestation of one’s religious rights.
The court dismissed the appeal, and three years down the line, Tyrone Iras Marhguy has completed his secondary education at Achimota School with flying colours.
Tyrone secured the highest grade possible, an A1, in all eight subjects he studied as a General Science student in the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Reacting to this news, X user, StatsGH revealed that “A law firm’s accountant estimated that Gov’t must have spent around GHS85,000 fighting the Achimota Rasta student case.”
The attorney general himself fought the boy in court.
A law firm's accountant estimated that Gov’t must have spent around GHS85,000 in fighting the Achimota Rasta student case; today, he achieved 8As, a grade the Attorney General didn't attain despite studying General Arts. pic.twitter.com/5tS6GtmBKu
Tyrone ‘s success was shared on X by a former aide to the NDC 2024 flagbearer, John Mahama, Felix Kwakye Ofosu.
Because of elitist arrogance and backward conservatism,a whole Attorney-General fought this extraordinarily brilliant boy in court to prevent him from gaining admission to Achimota. Shame on him and all who thought like him. pic.twitter.com/EIb1vDLp3i
Tyrone Iras Marhguy, the Rastafarian student who faced initial denial of admission by Achimota School in 2021 due to his dreadlocks, has achieved outstanding success in the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Despite the initial rejection, Tyrone secured the highest grade possible, an A1, in all eight subjects he studied as a General Science student at the school.
His success was shared on X by a former aide to the NDC 2024 flagbearer, John Mahama, Felix Kwakye Ofosu.
Because of elitist arrogance and backward conservatism,a whole Attorney-General fought this extraordinarily brilliant boy in court to prevent him from gaining admission to Achimota. Shame on him and all who thought like him. pic.twitter.com/EIb1vDLp3i
The denial of admission led to a court intervention in May 2021, which mandated Achimota School to admit him after extensive deliberations on the matter.
The court ruling, delivered by Justice Gifty Adjei Addo, disagreed with the Attorney General’s submissions and granted the reliefs sought by the Rastafarian students, directing the school to admit them.
The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has cancelled the entire results of 839 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) candidates for possessing mobile phones during the examination.
WAEC made this known after announcing the release of the provisional results for this year’s exams.
WAEC also reported the cancellation of subject results for 3,647 candidates due to the offense of “bringing foreign materials into the examination hall.”
Furthermore, the subject results of 4,280 candidates and the entire results of 1,005 have been withheld for various suspected offenses.
Results from candidates in 235 schools are also under scrutiny for collusion and the use of artificially generated answers through artificial intelligence.
According to WAEC, these cases are currently under investigation, and the release or cancellation of the withheld results will depend on the investigation outcomes.
Candidates can access their results online by visiting www.waecgh.org, as announced in a statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs, John Kapi.
Alli Nansolo debated whether or not to trim his son’s dreadlocks for years. Although it is not required by law in Malawi, a widespread unwritten policy meant that his son was being turned away from government schools because of the colour of his hair.
With his meagre earnings from manufacturing dresses, Nansolo’s was unable to provide his son Ishmael with a private education, and cutting his hair—a significant Rastafari religious symbol—was out of the question.
“The rastafari way of life is spiritual. Maintaining dreadlocks is comparable to making a pledge before the Most High Creator that we shall live our lives in service to Him without disobeying His Laws or Commandments, according to Nansolo, who spoke to CNN.
The 48-year-old makes between 200,000 to 300,000 Malawian Kwacha (around $194 to $291) monthly, while his wifeEmpress supplements the family’s income by selling secondhand clothes.
“I felt oppressed,” Nansolo said as he recalled the staff of a state-run secondary school in Zomba, southern Malawi. refusing to register Ishmael because of his hair.
Nansolo said he contacted an officer at the Ministry of Education who advised him to cut his son’s hair so that he could go to school.
Nansolo found himself caught up in the discriminatory policies of Malawian public schools and decided to take legal action against the Ministry of Education, along with a group of parents.
“I went to the Women Lawyers Association of Malawi to ask for help. The association accepted and we went to court in November 2017,” he said.
For three years, Ishmael, then 15, would remain out of school as the court case dragged on.
Then, in 2020, the Malawi High Court placed an interim order compelling public schools to enroll Ishmael and other Rastafari children until a final ruling was reached.
It was a legal victory that marked a significant milestone for the estimated 15,000 Rastafarian community in Malawi, according to Nansolo, who is also a community elder.
However, the temporary relief did not address the broader issue of discrimination that around 1,200 affected students face, their lawyer Chikondi Chijozi told CNN.
“We saw a number of Rastafari children being admitted into government schools but there were still reported cases of children of [the]Rastafari community being denied admission into government schools, and their parents were forced to take the court injunction to the school to compel them to admit them,” Chijozi said.
After a six-year legal challenge, the Malawian High Court delivered a landmark ruling on May 8.
The court ruled that it was unlawful to require learners, including Rastafarian kids, to cut their hair before they are enrolled into public schools.
The ruling came into immediate effect but the government has until June 30 to issue a nationwide statement mandating acceptance of all dreadlocked children into school.
Chijoki told CNN: “We got a judgment from the court which essentially upheld the rights of the Rastafari children and abolished the policy that requires all learners, including Rastafari children, to cut off their dreadlocks for them to be admitted into government schools.”
Nansolo expressed his community’s jubilation that their children could now finally continue their education.
“The judgment means that we are now free because most of us in [the]Rastafarian community don’t earn much, so we couldn’t manage to send our children to private schools,” Nansolo said.
“We are happy seeing that our children will now be going to public schools without being sent back or denied their right to education.”
CNN has contacted the education ministry for comment on the ruling.
Despite this victory, Malawi’s Rastafarian community still faces numerous challenges. Unemployment, poverty, and corporate discrimination persistently plague the community. Data on the community is hard to come by but the US State Department says around 5.6 percent of Malawi’s nearly 21 million population is formed of other religions includingHindus, Baha’is, Rastafarians, Jews, and Sikhs.
“Most of us rely on business to survive. Lack of jobs is a big challenge for the Rastafarian community because those in offices are reluctant to employ Rastas,” Nansolo said.
“The corporate world feels that being Rastafari is associated with criminality, but we are not like that.”
