A Jamaican Christian media group is urging the Ministry of Education to take caution in pursuing the regulation of devotion exercises in public schools after several students from Oberlin High school in St. Andrew collapsed.
It was reported that a teacher was praying and was speaking in tongues after claiming to receive a “message from God. Students then began to fall and froth at the mouth, and some could not walk.
The Education Ministry then disclosed that it is investigating the protocols of devotional exercises in schools. However, the Association of Christian Communicators and Media (ACCM) is warning the government about the potential implications of the measures.
The ACCMA said that the ministry “must take into account the fact that the public school system, for the most part, was established on moral and legal foundation, grounded in the Christian faith, adding that it majority of traditional institutions of learning were built on this foundation.
The group added: “The Christian world view provides sound moral footing for students, especially at this time when Jamaicans have been witnessing worrying levels of anger, strife, physical and even fatal altercations within the student population and even against teachers.”
The Christian media organization also cited “extraordinary high rates of crime and violence in the wider society”, which it said clearly spills onto school compounds and the nation is becoming a dangerous place for all.
The ACCM asserted that the Church’s role as a moral and spiritual guide, God’s presence, and peacekeeper must not be dismantled, diminished, or dismissed.
“Despite our penchant for violence and disorder, Jamaicans, at the heart, are a God-fearing and peace-loving people and the Church must be at the forefront of this battle for the soul of our country”, the group added.
