Vadodara: Stampede-like situation prevailed on the MS University campus as complete
chaos marred the science aptitude test conducted by IIT Ashram, a private coaching institute, on Sunday morning.
As scores of students along with their parents arrived on the campus where the institute was going to conduct the test, there were scenes of mismanagement at Faculty of Arts where the test was supposed to be held at 22 rooms.
Ahead of the test, IIT Ashram had sought permission from the university authorities to conduct the test titled ‘Khoj 2018’ at Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Commerce. Students from class V to class X are offered scholarships up to Rs four crore through this test.
MSU officials said there was complete chaos as the number of students who had come at the campus to appear for the test were far more than the numbers for which arrangements were made based on the institute’s request.
Agitated parents complained that the entire test was mismanaged by officials of IIT Ashram who allegedly allowed students to enter the arts faculty building despite overcrowding and space crunch. The students, most of them teenagers, were even made to sit inside the corridors instead of classrooms. Even the classrooms were overcrowded as four to five students were sitting on benches that can accommodate maximum three.
With ruckus over mismanagement of the exams, parents started questioning the coaching institute’s officials while additional police force also rushed to the faculty. They demanded that IIT Ashram authorities be booked for the incident which risked lives of their wards.
There could have been a stampede at the arts faculty premises as worried parents were trying to locate their wards once it was announced that the test was cancelled. Those parents who had left the premises after leaving their wards, returned after coming to know about the chaos.
Police with the help of MSU officialslater brought out all the students at the garden opposite the faculty building.
“All the children were safely handed over to their parents,” said MSU’s in-charge registrar N K Ojha.
IIT Ashram officials said that they had not expected such a rush. “Usually, we get registrations from 5,000 to 6,000 students every year but not more than 4,500 students turn up,” said S R Mishra, director of IIT Ashram, Vadodara.
“We had requested the rest of the parents and the students that we would accommodate them some another day with a new schedule. While maximum parents and students were convinced, some turned violent and aggressive and they spoiled the exam process,” he said, adding that a couple of parents even entered classrooms disrupting the exam process and students to vacate the premises.
Following the chaos at arts faculty, the test which was being held at Faculty of Commerce, was also cancelled.
Sea of students in the university’s arts faculty
