Fatal stampede exposes excessive rural school mergers

Xu Zhaoyi now trembles with fear when entering his school's dormitory, as he bore witness to a fatal stampede that occurred at the school on Wednesday in central China's Hubei Province.

"Five students were lying on the ground after the stampede. Teachers were trying to revive them," said Xu, a 9-year-old student at the Qinji Primary School in Xueji Township in the city of Laohekou.

The fatal school stampede occurred after hundreds of pupils were crowded at the only gate of the school's temporary dorm.

Some have blamed the incident on excessive rural school mergers that have left rural students with little choice but to attend crowded schools far from their homes.

The incident occurred one day after the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced that the excessive merging of schools in rural areas had been halted.

"My son cried and begged me to take him home. He was extremely scared to board at the dormitory any longer after witnessing the incident," said Du Zhen, father of a 10-year-old student at the school.

The accident occurred around 6:15 a.m. Wednesday, when two teachers who were on duty failed to open the gate at 6:00 a.m. as scheduled. When it did open, a large crowd of students that had gathered around the gate rushed in simultaneously, triggering a stampede.

There is only one entrance on the ground floor of the school's temporary dormitory, which used to be a four-story classroom.

"As a mother myself, I was extremely sorrowful for the school's tragedy. I wish to express my deepest apologies for the deaths of the four students," said Guo Fangfang, deputy mayor of Laohekou.

The city government blamed the incident on dereliction of duty and removed eight officials from their posts, including the director of the municipal education bureau.

The number of rural primary school's in the city's jurisdiction has dropped from 139 to 39 over the last decade, a trend similar to that seen in other rural areas.