GUWAHATI: The authorities of three schools in Assam’s Cachar district are in a tizzy after rumours spread that a ghost haunts the building they share and that some of the students, even one teacher, have been ‘possessed’ by it.
The stories triggered hysteria among students and parents, who are now demanding that the schools be shifted from the bhoot bangla.
Alarmed by the hysteria spreading among the students, the schools called in maulvis (clerics), who confirmed that there indeed is a ghost about.
The Swadhin Bazar High School, Abid Raza Middle English School and Swadhin Bazar LP School in Cachar district all share the same building.
Stories began to spread since April 11 that some suddenly have been acting strangely, shouting one after the other all of a sudden before falling unconscious. Attendance has dropped and parents are panicking.
Maulana Mufti Afazuddin Laskar said he has had the better of the ghost. He went to the school Monday and sprinkled some “healing” water on the ‘possessed’ girls and they became alright.
He is not just a ghost buster, but also an assistant teacher in one of the schools, Swadhin Bazar Islamia Madrasa.
“When I went to the school yesterday (Monday), I saw a group of students lying on benches, some of them unconscious. When I asked them about their strange behaviour, they responded that it was due to the unclean lifestyles of the students,” Laskar said.
So he sprinkled some healing water on them, and they recovered. Milad was also performed in the compound and “Tuesday was incident free,” Laskar said.
Iqbal Hussain Barbhuiya, president of the school management committee, was at a loss what to make of all this.
“We have over 1,000 students. Not even 200 of them came to school today. But we worry that parents will want the schools shifted elsewhere,” he said.
“We will meet the parents tomorrow (Wednesday). We are seeking the guidance of district authorities but so far, they haven’t responded,” Barbhuiya lamented.
“There is a strong belief among people that a ghost lives in the school building. The fear is such that they have stopped using the road near the school at night,” Rashid Ahmed Laskar, a local, said.