Dear Editor,
On behalf of the Hindus for Selfless Service (HSS) I would like to respond to the letter from Dr Henry Jeffrey, former Minister of Education (2001-2006), captioned, `Swami appears unable to get beyond consideration of religion as liturgy to the bigger picture’ (SN 5-7-17).
In his letter Dr Jeffrey answered Swami Aksharananda’s question: “As to the complicity of the Ministry of Education (MoE) in promoting Christianity, one wonders if Dr Jeffrey can tell us why he allowed Christian-only prayers in public schools.”
In very unambiguous language Dr Jeffrey declared, “Mr. Aksharananda, it is because for the five years that I was minister of education, I cannot remember this matter being raised with me as a serious issue.”
But this is just not true. On Saturday, November 13th 2004, the Stabroek News published a letter from Rakesh Rampertab, captioned, `Is Guyana a `Secular State’ as Stabroek News editorialized in November 2004? The Lord’s prayer is still said in some schools’.
Mr Rampertab wrote, “I read your editorial titled `Secular state’ … and enjoyed it. The sentence I have a problem with, however, is this: “Guyana is a secular state in which Christians, Hindus, Muslims and adherents of other religions worship freely without interference of any kind.
“I know that we have the freedom to practise our religions. But I also know that there is an interference. I know that your paper is aware of our public or state-owned education system and that for decades the “Lord’s Prayer,” which is a Christian hymn, has been the mandatory prayer in all these institutions. Therefore, I am left to believe that your paper is ignoring an old and obvious contradiction to the idea of us being a secular state, simply because to challenge the “obvious” would be to ignite a debate that would only conclude in parliament. Or, the paper thinks this is not a serious enough violation to warrant a question mark over our supposed secularity?”
Stabroek News appended this Editorial note to the letter: “Regulation 68 of the education code regulations provides as follows: `It shall not be required that a pupil shall attend or abstain from attending any Sunday school or any place of religious worship or that he shall, or shall not, attend any religious observance whatever.’
“We understand that the Lord’s prayer is still said in some schools but that non-Christians do not have to participate. Nevertheless, we are sending a copy of this letter to the Minister of Education for any comments he may wish to make on this and the use of government schools for religious business.”
In an addendum, the Editor of his site “Guyana Under Siege”, from which Mr Rampertab’s letter was googled, noted, “This is the third of such letters sent by Stabroek News to the Ministry of Education, prompted by letters from Rakesh Rampertab on the subject matter. Never was there any response from the Ministry of Education. “
It would appear that Dr Jeffrey did not believe Stabroek News raised the matter three times “as a serious issue”.
Yours faithfully,
Ramakrishna Seeraj
HSS (Guyana)
