By Ireneaus Chia Chongwain
Schools have effectively resumed for the 2008/2009 Academic Year and with it a return of numerous problems that plague the school environment not only in Cameroon, but the world at large. One of such problems is the recurrent mass hysteria or fainting, affecting mostly female students, in different schools. Although no such incident has been reported this far, as schools have just resumed, there are speculations the mass hysteria phenomenon may not have disappeared altogether, but could just be lurking at school corners, waiting for the ideal moment to rear its ugly head once again.
Working from the standpoint that prevention is better than cure, some Catholic school authorities organised workshops during the summer holidays to help Catholic school authorities better handle mass hysteria incidents, should they occur in any of their schools.
The early warning signals have come from far away Tanzania, where less than two weeks ago, twenty junior school pupils, all girls, experienced a mass fainting fit while taking their final year exams. Whether these incidents occur in schools in Cameroon or elsewhere, the results are almost always the same- a collective paranoia and psychosis among students and parents that poison the school and learning milieu, forcing many to relocate to other schools. But as years go by, more mass hysteria incidents are being reported, implying that any school, its geographical location and status notwithstanding, is a potential mass hysteria ground.
Disparaging accounts of collective fainting have not only been reported in Cameroon and some Eastern and Southern African countries, but also in some Asian and European countries. Writing about Mass Hysteria in schools, Richard Kimball reports that in March 1983, "---several Palestinian high-school girls fainted in their classrooms, one following another." He equally reports a similar incident in Chechnya in 2005. With reference to the situation in Africa he writes, "Hysteria in schools is very widespread in Africa. In my ten years living there, there was an article almost every week in a newspaper about having to close a school, usually a high school, for at least two days to 'solve' a problem. Most of the time, these hysteria outbursts were in girls' schools."
Increasingly, there are attempts to look for medical explanations to these occurrences. At best, these reasons have done little to instil confidence and quell public anxiety . They have at worst, only thrown the scientific community into disarray as a result of inconclusive findings. Yet, there is consensus that the more these incidents are better diagnosed and convincingly labelled, the better the school milieu will become.
It is in this light that a holistic approach has been adopted in seeking to explain the phenomenon. These range from medical, through psychological to superstitious explanations. True to their belief systems, most African countries have linked these incidents to demonic practices. It is therefore not surprising that the proprietors of the schools, where these incidents have been reported, have either been molested or threatened to be lynched, as popular justice has accused them, rightly or wrongly, of masterminding these hard-to-explain occurrences. A simple conclusion, in our view, to an evidently complex problem!
To expunge or solve the problem, most victims have been taken to priests and pastors, as the mass fainting phenomenon is mostly considered a spiritual problem. Catholic and other denominational institutions have been created along strong religious convictions that place God at the centre of all human endeavours. It is therefore logical that where others are attempting to find solutions to complex human problems through finite human intelligence, denominational institutions should readily seek solutions to these problems from an infinite, omnipotent Divine source.
Answering a question recently on the increase in reported incidents of demonic attacks in different parts of the country, a reflection of a growing secular culture and a corresponding spiritual bankruptcy, the Parish Priest of St Peter and Paul Parish Ndop, Rev Fr Joseph Mbiydzenyuy, said Christians who take their Christian lives seriously and receive the Sacraments worthily, should not be afraid of anything. He attributed these demonic attacks to, "--- a growing problem of the lack of faith in our different communities."
Catholic schools, nurseries of the Catholic faith par excellence, should not only provide an ideal ground to combat and circumvent mass hysteria incidents, but should equally set the standards in addressing this problem whenever it occurs, for previous experiences have shown that even missionary schools are not exempted. This is definitely one of the areas Catholic school chaplains could be of tremendous help to their students. After all, is it not said where God is present, the devil is most at work!
Comments