Ghost rumours keep students away from school in West Bengal

Kolkata, Sep 14: A country whose science and technology have thrived with the lunar mission- Chandrayaan 2, contrary to this a belief in spooky things still keeps students away from school in Chandannagore, Hooghly district of West Bengal.

Coincidentally, Chandrakanta Kumar, the deputy project director responsible for Chandrayaan 2's RF system at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru, also hails from Hooghly where students are not attending classes due to the rumours about ghosts in the school, as reported by The Times of India.

The Hooghly based Sri Aurobindo Vidya Mandir, an English-medium school is run by Chandannagore Municipal Corporation (CMC). The school recorded an unusual drop in students' attendance.

Some students allegedly created some spooky tales and spread rumours that they had heard some unnatural sounds and even seen ghosts of a woman, who committed suicide two years ago in her house next to the school, and another girl student killed in an accident on the way to school.

These students who spread the rumours of the presence of some supernatural elements in the school also asked the school to perform yajna.

Gradually, students stop coming to the school, and the number of absentees rose in the following days.

However, the guardians of those students who attended classes started an anonymous poster campaign against such rumours.

Dipankar Mukherjee, a class IX student, said, "Many of our friends are scared to attend school because of the rumours."

The CMC, civic body's official Biswajit Ray said, "I heard that fear of ghosts has led to low attendance in the school. I will inform my higher-ups for appropriate action."