Bageshwar: Parents and teachers were alarmed as students, mostly girls, behaved oddly often crying together, screaming, dancing and rolling on ground at a government school in Uttarakhand's Bageshwar district. Their bizarre behaviour was diagnosed as 'mass hysteria' that gripped Khati's Government Inter College.
According to the parents, students, mostly girls, from class 9 and 10, are acting strangely and fainting. Two girls fainted in the last week of November and now the number has reached to 15, they said. One of the parents said that their daughter remains healthy at home but starts behaving strangely while at school. On Tuesday, three girls started behaving strangely after which the parents took them to the district hospital.
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The doctors said they could be victims of mass hysteria which refers to an outbreak of unusual and uncharacteristic behaviours, thoughts and feelings or health symptoms shared among groups of people. Experts largely consider mass hysteria a type of conversion disorder or mental health condition that involves physical symptoms prompted by emotional or mental tension.
Incidents of mass hysteria have previously been reported in government schools in neighbouring districts such as Almora, Pithoragarh, and Chamoli. Bageshwar CEO Gajendra Saun said, "Information has been received from the Government Inter College about the incident last month. A health camp will be organized in the school as per the principal's demand."
