Imagine being this Principal..... ?????

[Lone Traveller]

Stampede at Middle School in China Kills 6 Children
Sunday, November 19, 2006

BEIJING ¡ª A stampede on a stairwell at a middle school in eastern China killed six children and injured 11, state media said Monday.

The stampede occurred Saturday night when hundreds of first-grade students at Tutang Middle School in Jiangxi province's Duchang County swarmed out of their evening classes, the China Daily newspaper said.

Hundreds of students fell over each other in the stairwell between the first and second floors of the three-story building, it said.

Five girls and one boy, aged between 12 and 13, died on their way to hospital, it said. Another 11 students were seriously injured and were being treated at the Jiujiang No. 1 People's Hospital, it said, without giving details.

The report said one student recalled seeing a classmate squatting down to tie their shoelaces on the staircase just before the incident occurred.

The report said teachers climbed drain pipes on the outside of the building to get to the children trapped on the stairwell.

Most of the teachers had been on the first floor grading papers when the stampede occurred and many of the children were unsupervised, it said. The school principle had been detained by local authorities, the paper said.

www.foxnews.com

Oh dear!!!

[Ruth]

Really too sad to comment on.

I can see it happening at my school, though, although the kids here are senior middle schoolers and a little more mature. If there were a fire or other emergency here, there could be a stampede. Five floors. 3500 students. Three stairwells. I've put myself in the stupid position of trying to go up the stairs when the students are rushing down - like when I miss-time my return to the office at lunch. Not wise to get in the way of that many hungry kids who've been crammed into desks all morning.

There is an outside stairway at one end of the building that would alleviate the crush in case of a fire, but the doors to the stairway are locked - with a chain and padlock, not safety bar. I've brought this to the attention of the VP ('cause I used to teach w-a-y down that end of the hall and realized the safety issue) and she said the principal wants the doors kept locked so the students don't sneak out. I'd make him culpable if anyone died or was injured because of this.

[mich]

same here..

there are two sets of stairs...one has a gate and is locked shut. the stairways themselves can fit 4 people accross snuggly.

I think about it every day...what if there was a fire. How would we get out!

Fires are definately a possibility, as the kids work by candlelight when there is no electricity.

Now they have painted a white line in the middle of the stairs...one side for people going up, one side for people going down...

pfftt...y'know, 'cos lines work in China!

[Lone Traveller]

Not only are the stairs the same at my school, but there is also no lighting in the stair wells.

Mass of pushing, shoving kids + no lighting + water from the snow = inevitable accident.

I always hang round after my classes till the majority of the pushing has ceased (cause I'm not that stable on my feet as it is . If I were part of the mass, you could bet your life that I'd be the one to miss judge the step fall flat on my glutes, and cause the accident).

L.T

[con's fly is open]

Every English school in China should print this story up and use it in class. I don't teach middle schoolers, m'self.

[Ruth]

How does this NOT happen in the west? I'm trying to think what is different here in China. For starters, the size of the school, I guess. My primary and jr high schools were all on one floor, so no stairs to deal with. I don't remember pushing to get in or out, but there were certainly less people to deal with. My high school was on two floors - three sets of stairs and about a third of the population of the high school I'm working in here - so space vs people is surely an issue. A few more stair cases would surely help with traffic flow. But does attitude have something to do with it?

Monday night I have a little girl in grade 1 who comes at 5:00 and then three kids, grades 3 and 4, who come at 6:00. When I opened the door to the classroom, the three incoming students barreled in, almost knocking down the little girl who was trying to leave. What's the rush? There's a stool for everyone. And it's not even a rush to get the 'best' stool. We all sit around a table, so there isn't a best stool, but even if there were, they sit in the same stools for each class - their choice. Same thing happens at 7:00 when those three leave and four kids (grades 5 and 6) arrive. I have to tell them every class (twice a week) to slow down and wait until the others have come out.

We have a 'me first' attitude in the west as well, so it can't be just that. I'd like to hear from people who have taught in schools in the west. What are kids like between classes, in the halls and stairways? Gretch, Eagle, Lunatic, George, Dr. G, anyone else...

[Lotus Eater]

The Q'ld schools I studied/taught in were high-set, so only one set of stairs to be navigated - and the underneath was open area for students to eat lunch, stay out of the sun etc - no classrooms. The classrooms opened onto a wide verandah which had port racks for storage. So students would leave the classroom, go to their port, collect their food or books for the next class and then amble off to their next room or hurry off to lunch. Stairwells at both ends of the building, so half went one way, half the other. Classes ranged between 25-35 members. Although my classes in the last couple of years may also have had 3 in them for a couple of subjects. One end had the teachers staff room for the block, so teachers would inevitably be coming in or out and students calmed down around them. Coming up or down stairs could be a little difficult, but not too bad.

We had at least one fire drill for the entire school each semester. In our city (government) office blocks as well we had a fire drill once every 3-6 months and with a goal of having everyone out of a 19 storey building in 5 minutes. Plus twice weekly testing of alarums.

Here I haven't had one fire drill - but inside my apartment door and on the stairwell wall on each floor are instructions in Chinese, pinyin and English on what to do, who to call and what to say in the event of fire, plus extinguishers.

One office I worked in we all went to the firestation one day, learnt to use different types of extinguishers and had fun putting outfires that the fire-ies started for us. That was good training.

[George61]

I never saw stairs till I came to China.

[Missi]

I wasn't a teacher in Canada, but U do remember when I was in grade school, when the bell rang to return to the classroom, we had to stand in rows in the designated spot for your class. We were not allowed back into the school until the teacher came to make sure we were all there. And then we walked by the wall to the classroom. So you've got students walking by both walls leaving the middle of the hall empty for teachers to walk.

In high school, we had four floors, had two major stair-wells, and had 8 decent sized back stairwells and approx 4000 students. There were two lunch periods, so there was always half the crowded spaces.

Here we have approx 3000 students living on campus and about 2000 that go home at lunch. Leaving the school gates for 20 minutes is scary. You literally get pushed, shoved and stomped on. I wait until all the students are gone out to try to get out and it takes about 20 minutes or so.

During their morning exercises Its like a stampede and just better to stand waiting to go up or down until they are all gone.

Who designs these building? 5000 students in one building, five floors, two stairwells?

[cheekygal]

My school has over 3,000 students. Two departments: International and Local. That's hell lots of kids during the breaks. But that would never happen at this school: when there are big breaks or class has to go somewhere, kids are organized by class as 2-3 teachers follow them - ahead and at the end of the line. Kids do run around the stairs, but I have never seen them bumping into each other. As wild as they can get, they are always polite and greet teachers, let them pass first. Korean students bow and greet when they see teachers (not all but the majority). As a part of my curriculum I started teaching kids different virtues every week which makes them quiet during that class (at least!) And even the naughtiest and the quietest participate and contribute when answering questions. I am not claiming the discipline in that school is the best - most of the kids are from very wealthy families and some of behave like they are the only ones in the whole world. But when it comes to moving around the school I guess they are well-instructed on how to.