Williams promotes class devotions instead of ‘mass way’ at Oberlin Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Mass devotions at Oberlin High School will likely be placed on hold, at least for the rest of the school term, after Minister of Education and Youth, Fayval Williams on Monday encouraged school administrators to shelve the practice.

Instead, the minister has suggested that devotional exercises should be held in individual classrooms instead of the auditorium.

This follows last Wednesday’s incident at the school that left the student population traumatised after a series of “bizarre events” during the school’s regular devotional exercise.

While a teacher delivered a word she said she had received from God, during which she “spoke in tongues” for an extended period, a number of students started shaking and falling to the ground. Some reportedly started foaming at the mouth and several were taken for medical attention.

Over the weekend, Williams urged parents to send their children back to classes on Monday, after hundreds stayed away on Thursday and Friday. She said fewer than 100 of the 1500-strong student population turned out for classes on those two days.

On Monday, the minister journeyed to the Lawrence Tavern, west rural St Andrew school where she met with school administrators and parents and also addressed students.

“I fully understand that we are a nation of persons who pray, but I also understand that we have a number of different religions in the society and what is practised one way for either religion is not necessarily the same way for another. In light of what took place on Wednesday, I believe, at least for the next month, that we ought to be simple in what we do,” Williams said.

Continuing, she said: “I have encouraged devotions to be in the classrooms rather than in a mass way because children are still going through things that they are not yet understanding, and we don’t want to layer on top of them any other situation in which anything can happen.”

“So, at least for the rest of the term…I am advocating for us to take things simple. Simple devotions, simple prayers, simple exhortations. Let us not do anything in mass, because big crowds are hard to control and we have no idea what will happen,” Williams added.

When she addressed students, she told them: “We don’t know what happened but we want to assure you that you are in good hands here at Oberlin High School.”

She also encouraged the school’s leadership to develop a closer working relationship with parents after the mother of a third form student expressed that parents felt slighted by how they have been treated.

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