By Patience Lunda:
Some community members in Changantole area, Nkhata Bay District, have demolished houses and destroyed other property that belongs to members of Seventh Day Adventist and Seventh Day Apostolic churches for allegedly defying a government order to send children to school.
The development has riled government officials, who have ordered those who are attacking others to respect laws of the land by not taking laws in their hands.
Initially, people who opt for church-based education were given up to October 10 2024 to start sending their children to public schools.
They, however, reportedly defied the order, prompting community members who believe that children have a right to education to start demolishing the church members’ houses.
Nkhata Bay District Social Welfare Officer Macsencie Chagomerana told The Daily Times that 14 houses had, so far, been destroyed.
Chagomerana said much as the council was against the church members’ reluctance to send children to school, it did not subscribe to violence.
“We, indeed, had ordered them to start sending their children to school but they have not done so and we had just received a report that some community members had started destroying their [church members’] property and we told them to stop. We are still asking the church members to start sending their children to school because we have no powers to evict them,” he said.
One of the affected members, Enock Nkhoma, said all members of affected households were residing in a church building.
He added that they had reported the matter to police.
Nkhoma said they believed that current curricula were misleading and saturated with misleading information, hence they took it upon themselves to start teaching their children using their own curricula.
He admitted to having received formal education himself but said a deeper understanding of the Bible led him to the conclusion that children should be taught more about scripture than earthly things.
“We feel that our rights are being violated because we have opted for our way of life and the [other] community members just pounced on us and, yet, we bought the land when we came to settle in the area,” he said.
On his part, Traditional Authority Zilakoma, who oversees the area, said he hoped all concerned parties would reach an amicable solution so that children’s rights should not be violated.
Earlier, the Seventh Day Adventist Church distanced itself from the faith groups.
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