On Wednesday, October 26, classes were dismissed at Oberlin High in St Andrew in Jamaica over an incident that involved students reportedly falling to the ground and screaming after a religious exercise.
According to the reports, a staff of the school said more than 200 students collapsed in the incident.
Staff said a female teacher was talking to the students about their behavior and decided to pray for them because she said “she got a message” from God. Shortly after the teacher started praying, students started shaking and “dropping”.
The affected students were reportedly transported to the Lawrence Tavern Health Centre, Stony Hill Health Centre, and Kingston Public Hospital.
The country’s Ministry of Education says it is investigating the incident and will provide details to the public on what transpired at the school.
One of the affected students who spoke with Radio Jamaica News said she and her fellow classmates became disorientated during devotion. She also said she does not know exactly how many students fainted.
“So, we were all up there and we were keeping devotion and they start to pray and… the teachers got into the spirit, and a girl in 11th grade – she’s a prefect at Oberlin High School as well – she got into the spirit. And from that, everybody starts faint, basically.
“I don’t have a number, but the auditorium of Oberlin High School, that was full, and the nurse’s office was full, and the agriculture lab was full, and outside pickney was actually fainting again, over and over,” the student said.
The acting principal of Oberlin High School, Antoinette Gray later sought to explain what happened at the school.
She said all students and teachers were participating in the general assembly in the schoolyard when two teachers were given an opportunity to share what she calls a “word” with the students.
The principal further noted that she believed some students were “overpowered by the anointing and started to worship aloud”. She said others had to be taken to the nurse because they could not control themselves and some had also fainted.
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