A local Christian media group is warning the Ministry of Education against diminishing the role of devotions in schools. This, after several students at Oberlin High collapsed during the school’s daily devotions on Wednesday.

It was reported that a female teacher was speaking to the students at the west rural St Andrew-based school regarding their behaviour. The teacher then opted to pray as she reportedly received a “message from God.”

It was followed by scores of students collapsing.

Subsequently, the Ministry of Education has indicated that investigations are ongoing to provide protocols for devotions in schools. However, the Association of Christian Communicators and Media (ACCM) is cautioning the government on the possible implications of measures.

According to the ACCM, 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. It is on this solid foundation that the majority of the traditional institutions of learning were built.”

The group added that: “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 group also pointed to the “extraordinary high rates of crime and violence in the wider society”, which it said “is clearly spilling onto school compounds and the nation is becoming a dangerous place for all.”

It added that “Jamaica has had the advantage of watching other countries dismantle the moral and Christian floorboards and observing the negative impacts on children and families.”

The ACCM asserted the role of the Church as a moral and spiritual guide, Godly presence and peacekeeper, and said this 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 ACCM added.

The ACCM also noted that devotions in schools are “our cultural identity shored up by our law. Let’s take pride in it, defend it, argue for it, and let other nations eventually envy us for it.”