Parents, school on collision course over church

Feb 21, 2017

The parents said that they are not happy with churches that conduct prayers in schools during learning hours

Parents of Jameler Primary School in Soroti Municipality have demanded Bishop Stephen Elwana of Pentecostal Evangelistic Ministries International (PEMI) to stop conducting prayers at the school premises.

Parents said the routine prayers conducted by Elwana always affect children's concentration during learning hours.

Elwana conducts prayers on Wednesday and Saturday, days that parents said children should be concentrating on their studies. 

Deogratias Onyait one of the parents said that they are not happy with churches that conduct prayers in schools during learning hours because learning cannot go ahead with the noise from the church.

"The Bishop should buy land and take the church there other than inconveniencing learning" Onyait stated.

The decision to stop Elwana from conducting prayers was raised during the annual general meeting that was held at the school hall on Saturday. 

Paul Etiang the head teacher of the school said parents have to be patient and should always not rush to make decisions on issues that concern prayers.

"We will organize a meeting between the school administration and proprietors of PEMI to look for the solution" Etiang said. 

Elwana in an interview with New Vision said that he was given permission by the school management and that they are the ones to order him off the premises and not parents.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});