Tuesday, 06 March 2012 00:00 Herald Reporter
PARENTS and guardians with children at Yamurai Primary School in Mufa-kose, Harare, have temporarily withdrawn them from the school after some pupils suffered hysteria allegedly linked to Satanism.
There was chaos at the school yesterday morning after more than three pupils fell into a trance.
Parents and guardians feared their children may also be affected.
Some of the affected pupils were reportedly bleeding through their noses.
One pupil has since been suspended to allow him to recover from the trau-ma.
Since last Thursday, over 30 pupils have reportedly been affected by the hysteria, blamed on suspected Satanic practices.
The strange occurrences were affecting mostly Grade One and Two pupils who are said to have turned violent and exhibited extraordinary strength while speaking in unusual voices and tongues.
The pupils, it is alleged, were being taken in the afternoons by an unidentified lady in a “tinted private vehicle”.
When The Herald visited the school yesterday morning, hundreds of parents were calling for the closure of the school.
“We got to know about these strange happenings last Thursday, but today things got worse with one pupil narrating how they were being taken to a secluded place by a middle-aged lady, who also has a child learning at the school.
“The lady offered the children chocolates and sweets and took them to a secluded place in Budiriro where they were made to play video games and drink some concoctions,” said one parent who declined to be named.
She said the Government should close the school and investigate the disturbances.
“We cannot allow our children to learn in such an environment because we do not know who is going to be the next victim,” she said.
Another parent added: “My child has been coming home late and he tells me that he is coming from extra lessons.
“I started having questions after realising that his behavior had changed.
“He does strange things which include being violent and disappearing at odd hours. He has gone into a trance several times in the past five or six days.”
According to the parents, pupils who went into the trance narrated how they were taken to the secluded place to “shape and review” operations.
They narrated how they were drawn into the Satanic sect and made to drink the concoctions. Some of the pupils, aged between six and eight, explained the “strange” things they were experiencing at the school.
Harare provincial education director Mr Calvin Mazula yesterday said he was still waiting for a full update from the district education officer.
“I am waiting for the authorities to give me the information of what transpired,” he said.
No comment could be obtained from staff at the school, including the headmaster, who locked themselves in for several hours.
Numerous boarding schools have been affected by bouts of mass hysteria, including Moleli High School and Kadoma’s Sanyati Baptist High School.
According to iloveindia.com, hysteria is a psychological state, wherein the mind of a person gets affected by un-manageable fear or emotional excesses.
Though it occurs in both sexes, the incidence is more apparent in young women between 14 and 25 years of age.
People struck by hysteria have less or no control over one’s acts and emotions and undergo sudden seizures of unconsciousness, with emotional outbursts every now and then.
Such a behavior results in repressed conflicts within the person’s inner self.
Though anxiety is the main cause for hysteria, there are certain other reasons for its occurrence as well.
The causes of hysteria are stress, sexual repression, excessive idleness, heredity factors and family history of nervousness.
Faulty emotional training, mental strain, fear, worry, depression, traumatism and masturbation are listed as some of the causes.
Prolonged sickness, brain tumor and dementia are listed among the causes of hysteria.
PARENTS and guardians with children at Yamurai Primary School in Mufa-kose, Harare, have temporarily withdrawn them from the school after some pupils suffered hysteria allegedly linked to Satanism.
There was chaos at the school yesterday morning after more than three pupils fell into a trance.
Parents and guardians feared their children may also be affected.
Some of the affected pupils were reportedly bleeding through their noses.
One pupil has since been suspended to allow him to recover from the trau-ma.
Since last Thursday, over 30 pupils have reportedly been affected by the hysteria, blamed on suspected Satanic practices.
The strange occurrences were affecting mostly Grade One and Two pupils who are said to have turned violent and exhibited extraordinary strength while speaking in unusual voices and tongues.
The pupils, it is alleged, were being taken in the afternoons by an unidentified lady in a “tinted private vehicle”.
When The Herald visited the school yesterday morning, hundreds of parents were calling for the closure of the school.
“We got to know about these strange happenings last Thursday, but today things got worse with one pupil narrating how they were being taken to a secluded place by a middle-aged lady, who also has a child learning at the school.
“The lady offered the children chocolates and sweets and took them to a secluded place in Budiriro where they were made to play video games and drink some concoctions,” said one parent who declined to be named.
She said the Government should close the school and investigate the disturbances.
“We cannot allow our children to learn in such an environment because we do not know who is going to be the next victim,” she said.
Another parent added: “My child has been coming home late and he tells me that he is coming from extra lessons.
“I started having questions after realising that his behavior had changed.
“He does strange things which include being violent and disappearing at odd hours. He has gone into a trance several times in the past five or six days.”
According to the parents, pupils who went into the trance narrated how they were taken to the secluded place to “shape and review” operations.
They narrated how they were drawn into the Satanic sect and made to drink the concoctions. Some of the pupils, aged between six and eight, explained the “strange” things they were experiencing at the school.
Harare provincial education director Mr Calvin Mazula yesterday said he was still waiting for a full update from the district education officer.
“I am waiting for the authorities to give me the information of what transpired,” he said.
No comment could be obtained from staff at the school, including the headmaster, who locked themselves in for several hours.
Numerous boarding schools have been affected by bouts of mass hysteria, including Moleli High School and Kadoma’s Sanyati Baptist High School.
According to iloveindia.com, hysteria is a psychological state, wherein the mind of a person gets affected by un-manageable fear or emotional excesses.
Though it occurs in both sexes, the incidence is more apparent in young women between 14 and 25 years of age.
People struck by hysteria have less or no control over one’s acts and emotions and undergo sudden seizures of unconsciousness, with emotional outbursts every now and then.
Such a behavior results in repressed conflicts within the person’s inner self.
Though anxiety is the main cause for hysteria, there are certain other reasons for its occurrence as well.
The causes of hysteria are stress, sexual repression, excessive idleness, heredity factors and family history of nervousness.
Faulty emotional training, mental strain, fear, worry, depression, traumatism and masturbation are listed as some of the causes.
Prolonged sickness, brain tumor and dementia are listed among the causes of hysteria.
