PANDEMONIUM broke out among children and teachers of two schools and a dormitory in the community of Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara, on Thursday, as they reported an attack by a supernatural force.

The Guyana Chronicle was informed that at about midday pupils of Novar Primary School began behaving strangely, resulting in widespread panic amongst the teaching population, as well.
The children from that school were then taken to Mahaicony Secondary, about a mile away, where there was a normal, scheduled prayer session.
Mahaicony Secondary is located on Mahaicony Branch Road while the Novar Primary is a few villages away.
This newspaper was informed that, after the Novar Primary visitors entered Mahaicony Secondary, those in the latter started acting in a similar manner to those who arrived.
Not long after, the inmates of an Amerindian dormitory, on Mahaicony Branch Road, too, also started acting up.
According to one teacher, who refused to be named, the entire ordeal became worse after the residents of the dormitory showed the same manifestation, speaking in different languages and tongues which were not normal in usual conversations and communication with persons on a daily basis.
Overheard praying
One child, making strange and loud sounds, was interrupted by prayers from several senior members of a nearby church who were overheard praying ordering “a pretensive demon” to leave the bodies of the children.
As the prayers were being said in the premises of the secondary school, two female students were seen running uncontrollably around the compound.
Administrators closed the gates to prevent the affected from making their way out of the compound.
A teacher, who asked not to be named, said he observed that 90 percent of the children who manifested strange behaviour were of Amerindian ancestry.
They included those from Novar Primary as well as Mahaicony Secondary and others from the Amerindian Dormitory.
Two male second form students of Mahaicony Secondary told this publication the school was experiencing this phenomenon for the past week, and persons have been visiting the institution to conduct prayer sessions.
On Thursday, a spokesperson for the school said the Department of Education was informed and an official from there was to visit yesterday, although preparations were being made for a graduation ceremony.
Over the past three years, the Ministry of Education has been searching for ways to address similar situations occurring at other schools.