Blame game begins as students face a stampede- like situation at Ville Parle exam centre

A mathematics scholarship test on Sunday turned into a nightmare for parents and students.

With nearly 1,600 students appearing for the Institute of Promotion of Mathematics (IPM) exam, poor crowd management led to a stampede-like situation at an exam centre in Vile Parle (West). Parents plan to lodge a complaint with the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

Ashok Jain, president of IPM, said, “The stampede occurred due to the mismanagement of the centre authorities. They should have appointed more staff and opened the school gates early.”

The school allowed the children to enter the premises only at 9.40 am, only 20 minutes before the exam. As a result, thousands of students and parents flooded into the school at the same time causing chaos and confusion. Jain added that they would not assign a large number of students to one centre next year and would also appoint volunteers to manage crowd. Parents said children, aged between seven and nine years, were pushed around. Some were injured as parents and students rushed inside the center causing further confusion. 

Ambarish Patel, co-ordinator, IPM volunteered and regulated the crowd by forming human barricades preventing parents from entering the school premises. tre. The situation got out of hand and parents had to call the police. Suffocated by the crowd, nineyear-old Swayam Joshi, a student of Jamnabai Narsee School, felt breathless and panicked.

"He was so traumatised that he does not want to appear for the exam again,” said Bhawisha Joshi, his mother. Parents said children were shaken by the incident and did not get sufficient time to complete the exam.