Accra, March 28, GNA - The Minister of Education and Sports on Tuesday expressed concern about creeping occultism in second and tertiary institutions and said the country must reject such freedom of religion immediately.

"We must say 'no' no this kind of freedom of worship," Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Sector Minister, said at the Meet the Press Series in Accra. "We should not encourage it. We should not tolerate it." He said rules and regulations of schools and universities had to be applied to stop this creeping danger.

Mr Osafo-Maafo noted that those introducing occultism into the schools come from a neighbouring country and the authorities of the Universities were taking steps to review admissions to stop the entry of such characters into the institutions.

"We can't import occultism. Whatever we should do to stop it we should do. We must not tolerate it."

He narrated a story of a student whose hand and buttocks were burned as part of the initiation process but could not report the ordeal because he feared for his life.

The student returned to his country where he reported the incident and the school authorities were notified.