Meghalaya govt to monitor behaviour of schools children

Shillong, Sep 7 (UNI) The Meghalaya government today said it has started monitoring strange behaviours of school students in Khasi-Jaintia Hills area who fainted while singing Christian hymns.

For the past few weeks, students, mostly run by Presbyterian Church, were singing hymns while some fainted or went into trance.

The Church elders said that they were touched by the Holy Spirit.

Church leaders attributed this phenomenon to Christian revival and termed it as a 'good omen'. The students started to behave strangely after the Church celebrated the centenary Revival service in Mairang, West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya on April 23.

''The government has been closely monitoring the reports. We have asked the school management to handle the situation,'' state Minister-in-charge of Elementary and Mass education Prestone Tynsong told UNI here.

Mr Tynsong said the government's concern was to ensure that classes were not hampered due to this phenomenon.

When asked, the minister said there were no plans to send medical experts to examine the students. He also believed the strange behaviour was due to 'Christian spiritual'.

''It is the power of the Holy Spirit to revive the people and the society and free them from the clutches of the Satan,'' a senior Presbyterian Church Member M B Khongwir said.

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