Scores of Indian children attending a school
located in a graveyard were having recurring nightmares about ghosts and have
appealed to authorities to shift them from the site, officials and residents
said.
"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.
This week, hundreds of children at
the school in the eastern state of
About 200 children study in the makeshift school
set up several years ago after authorities refused to donate land for a school
in Kohari village, 125 miles southwest of the state
capital,
Some parents say their children's sleep and health
is being affected by dreams of ghosts.
"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," said
one father, Riyazuddin Ansari.
"We
have no choice as the nearest other school is at least four hours away,"
he said by phone from Kohari.
There are more than 100 tombs in the graveyard but
dozens of fresh graves -- most of them shallow -- have been dug in recent
months, further crowding the burial ground.
Authorities in densely populated
"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.
