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Demons, or health scare?
Students flee Sydney Pagon High School
BY GARFIELD MYERS Editor-at-Large South/Central Bureau [email protected]
Friday, September 20, 2013
SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Hysterics, fainting spells, and reports of "demonism", described by Education Minister Ronnie Thwaites as a "health scare", have caused a mass exit of students from the Sydney Pagon Agricultural High School at Elim in north-east St Elizabeth over recent days.
Thwaites and the Ministry of Education's Regional Director Nadine Leachman told journalists yesterday that they were hoping for a resumption of "full" operations at the boarding school on Monday.
"There is a health scare. I am pleased that the regional director has acted quickly and so have the health authorities, and I am told the worst has passed. We are very sorry to hear about it and we trust that on Monday there can begin full and secure operations. I am told that this morning (yesterday) things are much calmer, students who were affected are improving...," Thwaites said.
Leachman, who along with Thwaites, were guests at Siloah Primary School's prize-giving ceremony, told journalists that many parents came and collected their teenaged children following news that "students (were) getting all hysterical about spirits and things". She said some students were still on the campus, though the majority had left.
She said Ministry of Health personnel and members of the clergy would be asked to assist on Monday in the drive to restore normality at the school. Leachman said her understanding is that the hysterics started with two girls.
The Jamaica Observer team was not allowed in at the Sydney Pagon High School yesterday. A passer-by on a bicycle told what he said was his understanding of what had caused the trouble. "A teacher tek a guard ring from a student an' dem seh a dat cause the problem," the young man said.
Quizzed about the reports of "demonism", Thwaites, who is a Roman Catholic deacon, insisted that "The power of good is always superior to that of evil, and let people of goodwill gather around what is a good school named in memory of a strong servant of this parish..."
The school is named for the late, long-serving member of parliament for North East St Elizabeth Sydney Pagon.
Thwaites reiterated that "I have in mind that Sydney Pagon should be a centre for university activity in the future. The University of the West Indies has an interest in having an agricultural extension activity there, and I hope that it will become one day a full-blown high school with a strong agricultural bent".
Thwaites said he hoped that as early as "next year September we will see that (transformation of Sydney Pagon High School) a reality..."
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz2fPvF7nwY
Students flee Sydney Pagon High School
BY GARFIELD MYERS Editor-at-Large South/Central Bureau [email protected]
Friday, September 20, 2013
SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Hysterics, fainting spells, and reports of "demonism", described by Education Minister Ronnie Thwaites as a "health scare", have caused a mass exit of students from the Sydney Pagon Agricultural High School at Elim in north-east St Elizabeth over recent days.
Thwaites and the Ministry of Education's Regional Director Nadine Leachman told journalists yesterday that they were hoping for a resumption of "full" operations at the boarding school on Monday.
  A minibus leaves the Sydney Pagon Agricultural High School at Elim in St Elizabeth yesterday. (PHOTO: GREGORY BENNETT)  1/1  |
Leachman, who along with Thwaites, were guests at Siloah Primary School's prize-giving ceremony, told journalists that many parents came and collected their teenaged children following news that "students (were) getting all hysterical about spirits and things". She said some students were still on the campus, though the majority had left.
She said Ministry of Health personnel and members of the clergy would be asked to assist on Monday in the drive to restore normality at the school. Leachman said her understanding is that the hysterics started with two girls.
The Jamaica Observer team was not allowed in at the Sydney Pagon High School yesterday. A passer-by on a bicycle told what he said was his understanding of what had caused the trouble. "A teacher tek a guard ring from a student an' dem seh a dat cause the problem," the young man said.
Quizzed about the reports of "demonism", Thwaites, who is a Roman Catholic deacon, insisted that "The power of good is always superior to that of evil, and let people of goodwill gather around what is a good school named in memory of a strong servant of this parish..."
The school is named for the late, long-serving member of parliament for North East St Elizabeth Sydney Pagon.
Thwaites reiterated that "I have in mind that Sydney Pagon should be a centre for university activity in the future. The University of the West Indies has an interest in having an agricultural extension activity there, and I hope that it will become one day a full-blown high school with a strong agricultural bent".
Thwaites said he hoped that as early as "next year September we will see that (transformation of Sydney Pagon High School) a reality..."
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz2fPvF7nwY
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