In a bizarre incident, some 600 odd students of an ashram school in district’s Melghat region left the school in a huff and returned to their homes following a rumour regarding presence of a ‘ghost’ in the school. Panic reigned supreme in the Government Adiwasi Ashram Shala at Doma and now, activists of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (ANIS) have launched a counselling drive to bring the students back. It all started after some girl students at the residential school allegedly began displaying unusual behaviour like screaming without apparent reason, breaking into tears suddenly, remaining silent for prolonged periods or laughing loudly.

 

Similar symptoms were subsequently noticed among other girls as well and soon the rumours mills started running overtime. Before no time, the theory of supernatural activity entered the scene and this was enough to push the children beyond logical thinking. It may be noted that the school as 608 students, including 263 boys and 345 girls. Following the incident, Nandini Jadhav, State Executive Committee member of ANIS from Pune, Rambhau Dongre (Nagpur) and Pravin Deshmukh (Mumbai) visited the remote Melghat region to assess the situation and interact with the ‘affected’ students and their parents.

 

The activists visited villages including Doma, Pach Dongri, Khadimal and Chunkadi. Nandini Jadhav said there was no evidence of any supernatural or paranormal activity in the school and that fear among the students had led to the rumour. She further stressed that ANIS activists themselves stayed overnight at the schools. She also appealed parents to send their children back to school so that their education does not suffer. Meanwhile, following the counselling sessions, several girl students have reportedly expressed their willingness to return to the school. A special counselling team from Amravati had earlier visited the school to understand the reasons behind the unusual behaviour displayed by some students.