Bandar Seri Begawan – Girls who believed were possessed by devils made a ruckus in a school here yesterday.

Fourteen female students went hysterical in the morning at an all-girls school in the capital as the school cancelled all classes and sent students home.

The first incident happened at about 8am at the Sekolah Tinggi Perempuan Raja Isteri (STPRI) and an hour later all roads leading to the school were jammed with vehicles as anxious parents rushed to pick up their children.

The Ministry of Education acted swiftly and issued a press statement. It acknowledged the incident and said it was being tackled accordingly with cooperation from everyone, especially parents and guardians.

The ministry also announced that in light of the incident, the students of STPRI will be given a day off Saturday, July 30, in order to settle things. The school will reopen as usual on Monday, August 1, the statement added.

However, no one knows or has any idea what triggered the hysteria.

The Borneo Bulletin was told the first hysterical incident happened on Thursday, July 21.

However, the matter got worse last Monday when nine more students were affected. On Tuesday it was the turn of four other students while on Wednesday another three students went hysterical.

Religious teachers and bomohs were dispatched to the school every time students became hysterical.

Nurses from the Raja Isteri Pg Anak Saleha Hospital and ambulances were also rushed to the school.

The affected students reportedly went into a state of frenzy all of a sudden as if they were possessed. They reportedly shouted at the top of their voices and rolled on the floor. It took a number of persons to control them.

Yesterday, many students that went into a state managed to calm down after a while and were attended to by nurses inside ambulances.

But some students took a longer time to come out of their “possessed” state and some religious teachers were seen trying to keep the affected students under control.

Parents called for immediate effort to prevent the phenomenon recurring. Some parents told the Bulletin they have decided not to send their children to school for the time being until the mystery of students going hysterical is solved.

Officers from the Ministry of Education told the Bulletin that parents should not be too anxious as the situation was under control.

“We are stepping up efforts to prevent this from happening again. The situation is really under control, said the officer. — Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
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