SCHOOL PLAGUES

Fresh on the heels of a report that a number of William Knibb Memorial High students in Trelawny were turning to guard rings for protection, firebrand bishop, the Rev Dr Alvin Bailey, has called for the retention of devotions and other Christian rituals to counter the wave of satanic practices he believes are prevalent in Jamaican schools.

Even with the growth of liberal beliefs, Jamaica remains a deeply religious country, with Christian rituals and education a bedrock in most public and private schools. But Bailey, the presiding bishop of the Holiness Christian Church in Jamaica, has slammed the quietly growing lobby for the removal of religious influence from school life.

“The day we get the Bible out of the school, it is going to be a tragedy,” he said in a Gleaner interview on Sunday.

“In the schools, there must be devotions, reading of the Bible, and saying prayers. I think it gives the devil flight. It allows for the safety, sanity, decency, moral rectitude, and ethical values in the life of the school when Christianity is present.”

The wearing of guard rings is not new in schools here, with the practice dating back to at least the 1990s, but Bailey said that there is prevalent reliance on occult phenomena, which goes beyond the wearing of charms and trinkets. He said parents were increasingly subjecting their children to spiritual baths and blessings by the practitioners of obeah.

“Just about every aspect of that kind of practice that is seen and known of in the society is done for or on children as they enter the school system,” he said.

Guard rings – believed to hold supernatural power for the wearer, providing protection from harm, sickness, and even death – recently came to the fore after the fatal stabbing of William Knibb student, 16-year-old Camal Hall, by a schoolmate who alleged that the charm had been stolen.

Several guard rings have been confiscated by school authorities at William Knibb.

According to Bailey, the true extent of the practice in schools is unknown as many school administrators are not either aware or are willing to turn a blind eye to ritualism.

“A child might come to school with a weird perfume. It’s neither here nor there, but that a rub-up,” he said, referencing Jamaican vernacular for occult concoctions.

“We have had situations where it gets out of hand where we have situations of students being demon-possessed and manifesting demons on the school compound, and the church has to be called in.”

But school administrators and teachers have raised concerns about social dysfunctions that are more pervasive than occult practices.

A series of violent incidents among high-school students across the country has triggered Jamaica Teachers’ Association President Winston Smith to appeal for greater attention to be placed on the resocialisation of the nation’s children.

Following the resumption of face-to-face classes after two years of virtual learning imposed because of coronavirus restrictions, Smith said that there has been a significant decline in the behaviour of students.

Besides William Knibb, fights at Maggotty, Muschett and Petersfield high schools have resulted in wounding and stabbing incidents, including hospitalisations.

“The JTA is calling on all parents to take serious steps in helping to resocialise their children. We beseech the churches islandwide and in the diaspora to help us to pray because we need divine intervention … ,” Smith, speaking at JTA’s 58th-anniversary celebration church service at the Mizpah Moravian Church in Manchester on Sunday, said.

“If our children are not resocialised, we are going to have a problem. This burden cannot be left on teachers alone,”

Citing a United Nations Children’s Fund report indicating that 65 per cent of stipulated teaching time was not spent in instruction, Smith said the authors of the report failed to inform the world what the remaining time was used for.

“… That 35 per cent is used doing social administrative work, social work, as well as dispute resolution, counselling, and policing, among much other-needed interventions. … If we should stop doing those things, I ask you parents, what would become of your children if we only concentrate on teaching?”