Kaimur (Bihar in India), SVM News, July 26, 2007: An Indian Urdu primary school is located inside a 200 year old Muslim graveyard at Kohari village in Kaimur district in Bihar State of India, which is about 130 miles from Patna, the capital city of Bihar.
More than 200 children in between 5 to 12 years of age learn their first lessons on reading and writing in this school. Most of the classes are held in the open in the graveyard. The children play and eat also amidst the dead.
It was running in the graveyard for many years. But the children at the school are now complaining of having recurring nightmares about ghosts and have appealed to authorities to shift them from the site.
The school is being run in just two rooms that are not spacious enough to accommodate all students.
The graveyard, however, has over 100 tombs and dozens of fresh graves -- most of them shallow -- dug in recent months. It has further crowded the burial ground.
"I have stopped going to school after many dead people walked out of their graves and came into my dreams, ordering me to reach school on time," said six-year-old Raqib Ansari.
Nuresha Kaitoon, a student, said: "We play and study in the graveyard. When asleep at home, we get weird dreams. Like the one, in which a man with a beard comes shouting at us and orders us to go to school. When it's dark, we are very scared."
Some of the parents have complained that their children are not taking proper sleep. They are afraid of ghosts at their school and it's affecting their health as well.
Iltaf Hussain, parent of a student, said: "The children play and study at the graveyard. When children realise that they are amidst dead men, they get nightmares and are scared."
"They used to play and study together and finish their lunch boxes while sitting on top of concrete graves but now the ghosts have come to haunt them at night and they are falling ill," Riyazuddin Ansari, father of another student said.
"We have no other option, but to send our children to the graveyard school. Because the next nearest school is at least four hours away from our village. It is not possible for us to admit our little children such far away," Naseem Ahmad told to the SVM News Service.
"It is really an unusual school, as children spend hours surrounded by graves," said Majeed Ansari, an elderly person of Kohari village who is one of the founders of the school.
"We started this school in the 60s in a thatched hut in the graveyard, as there was no other place to set up it. The villagers did not object since nobody was ready to donate a small piece of land for it," Majeed Ansari told to Paul Ciniraj, the Director of the Salem Voice Ministries and SVM News Service. "Though most students in the school are Muslims, it does have dozens of Hindu children on its rolls," he continued.
"A few years ago the local administration built three rooms for the school following the intervention of village head. However, one of three rooms is being used as the school office while the other two are not big enough to accommodate hundreds of children," Majeed Ansari added.
School teachers admit that some parents have complained about evil spirits and ghost haunting their children. Several horror stories have also been doing the rounds for years. Rumours say children, who attend the school, are given sweets and chocolates by ghosts.
Authorities in densely populated Bihar said they were trying to provide new land for the school.
"Maybe the dead are not enjoying the noise inside the graveyard any more, but we are looking into the matter," said Ram Yash Singh, a village council official.
Hundreds of children at the school accompanied by their parents, marched to the office of a senior district official, asking for the school to be shifted away from the graveyard before last week.
If God willing, Salem Voice Ministries pray and plan to start a village school over there as its mission. We look unto God for it. SVM director said.
News at SVM site: http://salemvoice.org/news209.html
More than 200 children in between 5 to 12 years of age learn their first lessons on reading and writing in this school. Most of the classes are held in the open in the graveyard. The children play and eat also amidst the dead.
It was running in the graveyard for many years. But the children at the school are now complaining of having recurring nightmares about ghosts and have appealed to authorities to shift them from the site.
The school is being run in just two rooms that are not spacious enough to accommodate all students.
The graveyard, however, has over 100 tombs and dozens of fresh graves -- most of them shallow -- dug in recent months. It has further crowded the burial ground.
"I have stopped going to school after many dead people walked out of their graves and came into my dreams, ordering me to reach school on time," said six-year-old Raqib Ansari.
Nuresha Kaitoon, a student, said: "We play and study in the graveyard. When asleep at home, we get weird dreams. Like the one, in which a man with a beard comes shouting at us and orders us to go to school. When it's dark, we are very scared."
Some of the parents have complained that their children are not taking proper sleep. They are afraid of ghosts at their school and it's affecting their health as well.
Iltaf Hussain, parent of a student, said: "The children play and study at the graveyard. When children realise that they are amidst dead men, they get nightmares and are scared."
"They used to play and study together and finish their lunch boxes while sitting on top of concrete graves but now the ghosts have come to haunt them at night and they are falling ill," Riyazuddin Ansari, father of another student said.
"We have no other option, but to send our children to the graveyard school. Because the next nearest school is at least four hours away from our village. It is not possible for us to admit our little children such far away," Naseem Ahmad told to the SVM News Service.
"It is really an unusual school, as children spend hours surrounded by graves," said Majeed Ansari, an elderly person of Kohari village who is one of the founders of the school.
"We started this school in the 60s in a thatched hut in the graveyard, as there was no other place to set up it. The villagers did not object since nobody was ready to donate a small piece of land for it," Majeed Ansari told to Paul Ciniraj, the Director of the Salem Voice Ministries and SVM News Service. "Though most students in the school are Muslims, it does have dozens of Hindu children on its rolls," he continued.
"A few years ago the local administration built three rooms for the school following the intervention of village head. However, one of three rooms is being used as the school office while the other two are not big enough to accommodate hundreds of children," Majeed Ansari added.
School teachers admit that some parents have complained about evil spirits and ghost haunting their children. Several horror stories have also been doing the rounds for years. Rumours say children, who attend the school, are given sweets and chocolates by ghosts.
Authorities in densely populated Bihar said they were trying to provide new land for the school.
"Maybe the dead are not enjoying the noise inside the graveyard any more, but we are looking into the matter," said Ram Yash Singh, a village council official.
Hundreds of children at the school accompanied by their parents, marched to the office of a senior district official, asking for the school to be shifted away from the graveyard before last week.
If God willing, Salem Voice Ministries pray and plan to start a village school over there as its mission. We look unto God for it. SVM director said.
News at SVM site: http://salemvoice.org/news209.html
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