Following claims that demons are haunting students, the administration of UMEA Day and Boarding Primary School in Mpigi District, central Uganda, has shuttered the school indefinitely.
Some students have apparently been unable to attend classes since Monday due to unusual diseases that local health experts have been unable to diagnose.
Following a meeting with local officials, the school’s head teacher, Aliziki Nambi, announced the school’s closure.
“Since there have been no lessons for a few days because students have refused to attend their classrooms,” she said on Friday, “I believe it is more important to send them back to their homes to give us time to fix this situation.”
On Thursday, roughly 50 students spent the entire day protesting and refusing to go to class.
The graveyard next to the school is to blame for the alarming situation.
Mr Moses Balyohere, a long-serving teacher at the institution, claimed some of the students had signs of mental illness, such as shouting and hopping, while others were physically frail.
“These bad spirits have also impacted two instructors, including myself,” he claimed, “but we have sought the assistance of sheikhs to pray for the sufferers and the school to banish the demons.”
Many of her classmates, according to one of the students, became unconscious anytime they entered the mosque after being allegedly attacked by demons.
“The devils claimed they were troubled by the construction of a mosque in the neighborhood and demanded that it be demolished. They’re also upset because a tree where they used to rest was felled,” she explained.
Mr Gerald Katongole, the district inspector of schools, said the school administration has yet to communicate with his office about what happened.
“I’ve been preoccupied with Primary Seven candidate registration; I’m sure the school administration will let me know what happened,” he added.
Demon attacks have become a typical occurrence in schools across the country, with many children and pupils suffering as a result.
Psychologists and doctors, on the other hand, feel that these are the effects of mass hysteria and convulsion illnesses, rather than demons.
The term “mass hysteria” refers to a situation in which a large number of people are experiencing the same undiagnosed symptoms.
The rapid spread of a symptom, or a set of symptoms, among a group of people is known as hysterical contagion. In June 2015, around ten students from Mubende District’s Nakawala Primary School lost control and began chasing everyone, including their teachers.
Stones were thrown by teachers and classmates, and doors and windows were slammed shut.
The episode was referred to as “demonic attacks” by the school administration, who asked a church leader to offer special prayers for the students.
