Dear Editor,

I want to commend Education Minister Fayval Williams for the genuine care she has been displaying for students across Jamaica.

I am, therefore, hopeful that the minister will not feel undue pressure to issue formal protocols for devotions. I went to primary and secondary school during the 1980s and 1990s and there has always been internal protocols for how devotions are conducted. Devotions usually lasted between 10 and 15 minutes, students were not forced to participate, and they were typically led by teachers and/or students. On special occasions external speakers were invited and the devotions went on a bit longer then. To the best of my knowledge these internal protocols still exist.

What type of protocols would the Ministry Of Education (MOE) implement? One of the recommended protocols I have heard is that during religious rituals students should not prostrate on the floor. I had to smile about this as I am confident that no one in leadership at the prestigious Oberlin High School told the students it’s time to get on the floor.

The account given by the acting Principal Antoinette Gray sounded quite reasonable to me. She noted that two teachers were sharing and some students started to actively participate and became overwhelmed. Oberlin High School is an esteemed institution with outstanding graduates and a comprehensive and wholesome programme for its current students. Are we now to believe that the leaders there are not capable of planning and implementing a devotional exercise? I say no to this attempt at hand-holding and micromanagement by the MOE. The road to many places are paved with good intentions but may result in hellish situations.

Some of the detractors of devotions in schools are clapping their hands in glee as they now see an opportunity to disparage and destroy what has been a culturally accepted practice for many decades in Jamaica.

Can we ask the minister who will be tasked to develop protocols to address “dangerous devotions”? The ministry would be better served to establish protocols that ensure teachers are paid on time and subventions are received on a timely basis so that the requisite furniture, equipment, and supplies can be bought. What about the violence and gangster behaviour in some schools?

It is a very slippery slope when any Government, inclusive of the Opposition, can decide what a devotional exercise should look and sound like. How long before Christian-based schools are unfairly targeted?

I believe that Minister Williams already knows that school policy should not be created based on social media hysteria, but it’s worth re-emphasising.

Marsha Thomas

marshburns@hotmail.com