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KARACHI: A medical student committed suicide on Monday after a university refused to allow him to appear in the final year exam for being late, officials said.
Abdul Basit, 27, pursuing a Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree, was a fourth-year student at the Hamdard College of Medicine and Dentistry affiliated with Hamdard University.
Witnesses said that Basit, a resident of PECHS, reached the campus in North Nazimabad’s Sakhi Hasan area in his car about one-and-a-half hour late due to traffic jam. The administration did not allow him to take the exam.
They said that he visited the principal’s office and requested him to allow him to appear in the exam, but the principal reportedly asked him to appear in the supplementary examination.
Frustrated over the refusal, the student went outside the campus, drew fuel from his car and immolated himself.
Engulfed in flames, Basit was walking towards the campus when some students saw him and tried to put out the fire with some cloth.
Some students took him to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, which referred him to the Civil Hospital’s burns ward.
He was admitted to the CHK at 4.20pm, but died a few hours later during treatment, said additional police surgeon Dr Qarar Ahmed.
Senior medico-legal Officer Dr Nisar Shah told Dawn that the student had suffered over 86 per cent burns.
DIG-West Feroze Shah said that the administration did not allow him to appear in the exam because of his late arrival at the examination centre and their refusal prompted him to take his own life. He said he had formed a special team to investigate the incident.
Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2016
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Comments (54) Closed
Apr 12, 2016 06:59am
It is failure of our systum.our systum destroy our tailent .this real picture of our systum.
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Apr 12, 2016 07:02am
Sad. Was it usual traffic jam or it was due to someone was doing protest or taking out procession on the street and making traffic jam. Than in that case those people are responsible for this young death.
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Apr 12, 2016 07:06am
There must be some mental health issue. Felt sorry for the kid, this is not a sane way the medical students react.
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Apr 12, 2016 07:20am
Who is responsible for the death of this young student? I would say the VVIP culture, the Sindh government and the useless flyover built in Karachi. In America they built flyovers around the city, so you may get to your destination earlier not in the city.
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Apr 12, 2016 08:02am
Life is a precious thing. One should never lose sight out of the bigger picture and long-term perspective.
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Apr 12, 2016 08:06am
Tragic.
When are we going to make Pakistan the way Mr. Jinnah wanted it to be?
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Apr 12, 2016 08:10am
If the rules were followed then our people need to learn to respect them. It is weak to commit suicide on such a matter. Lets take some responsibility for our actions instead of always blaming the system.
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Apr 12, 2016 08:17am
No fault of medical college.
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Apr 12, 2016 08:34am
Sad..sad ..sad.. Rules are broken accross the board everyday for the select few...
This is tragic indeed.
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Apr 12, 2016 08:38am
It is not the failure of system. We avoid blaming ourselves. This is an example of total empathy in society which has brought frustration and hence this. Sons killing parents, brothers killing brothers, wives and husbands killing each other. But the rulers and Parliament are on one point agenda; how to continue all this. They are prepared to seek help from enemy if need be. This has been our democracy.
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Apr 12, 2016 09:13am
Students should be taught how to handle the pressures of daily life.....University was following the rules in not allowing him to sit in the exam......The student should have been bold enough to face the situation.......A weekly class (non-graded) of a psychologist should be included in the curriculum of all schools/colleges and students should be taught how to handle different situations boldly.....
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Apr 12, 2016 09:17am
No fault of the student at all.The principal should have shown leniency and could have asked the student to solve the paper in his own office.Frustration due to traffic jam could be imagined which lead student to such an extreme step .Very sad. The concerned authorities must now devised needful ways to accommodate the students got late due to situations beyond their control,to sit in exams.
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Apr 12, 2016 09:20am
How sad...
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Apr 12, 2016 10:22am
I myself witnessed the worst attitude of management at college level, entire academia industry has frustration towards students may be because they can solely force students to bow down to them else in society they are treated with no respect.
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Apr 12, 2016 10:22am
May his soul rest in peace.
In a city like Karachi and with uncertainties all around individuals should take responsibility and take preemptive measures. The university administration is not at fault as discipline is badly needed for the new young generation. Blaming others has always been the escape adopted by most of us. Emotional reaction is not the answer to today problems.
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Apr 12, 2016 10:36am
@Imran nazir is it system or discipline? if he is 90mins late than how come he can be allowed to take an exam?
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Apr 12, 2016 10:37am
Such a sad moment for all Pakistanis :( this truly tells the picture of our whole system. Poor soul invested his whole life & money for this degree and ended up his life like this.
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Apr 12, 2016 10:56am
It's an indication of extremely frustrated society.
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Apr 12, 2016 11:00am
Education is now Profitable business & these private institutions has no checks .. after couple of days everybody forget this incident .. This is dilemma of our Society
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Apr 12, 2016 11:51am
Don't put pressure on students - Just give them chance. If he/student was allowed to do his paper in rest of the time what went wrong? System simplifies procedures & rules not complicate if so then not System something else.
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Apr 12, 2016 12:41pm
when the fear of living in this world exceeds the fear of death, one commits a suicide. that's it.
whatever happened , was not fair. i feel very sad for the lost of life.
Ascertaining the solid reason can help find the culprit.
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Apr 12, 2016 12:52pm
Flaws Everywhere. Rules violated else where can make it difficult to abide by rules in some other place. This incident highlights this point. When traffic rules aren't implemented then why implement the rule of comming on time in offices schoolz/uniz etc.
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Apr 12, 2016 01:02pm
@Vibrant Pakistan Not being allowed to take ANY exam after arriving that late is perfectly reasonable (whatever the reason for delay may be). Supplementary exams are typically administered about 6 months later. A 6 month delay is hardly something that should make one contemplate suicide. A 27 year old, that too a doctor-to-be, should be able to deal with unanticipated stress a lot better. The event is quite regrettable, but the university followed its rules. The system is fine.
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Apr 12, 2016 01:18pm
Instead of accusing the system and country for everything, we should now learn to confess our mistakes. Suicidal attempts have become very common. Almost every week there's a news of a teenager jumping off the roof, burning or killing him/herself in anyother way...System shouldn't be blamed for the aggression in the nature of our children., because system is not responsible for the upbringing of our children. It's actually our mistake as we in lieu of disfavouring bad , always provoke it.
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Apr 12, 2016 01:34pm
This is fault of his family, not the college, not the system, not anything else. It means he was already extremely stressed with his life, he was already on the edge. I have been through similar situation but survived an attempt 4 years ago, I'm still not sure if my survival was fortunate or unfortunate. Rest in peace.
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Apr 12, 2016 01:52pm
Another sad incident occur, he wasnt taking a matric or inter exam , it was medical final and he could be right....... but what he did wasnt a correct thing to do.
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Apr 12, 2016 01:57pm
I think none can be blamed here, but those high paid educationalist and academics, who follow the pattern of exams not to facilitate the student, but for penalizing and taking revenge from Students.
There is a very simple solution, applied in renowned univerasities, that for final years exams, there is a make up exam option. If this was the case at least students will not be dissappointed and desperated.
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Apr 12, 2016 02:07pm
That's insane.
H should have not committed sucide.
I study in Australia once I got to my exam late and I stated my car was broken down they said to me you have to give especial/supplementary exam.
That's what happen everywhere in the world.
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Apr 12, 2016 02:25pm
Traffic Jam due to Green line project
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Apr 12, 2016 02:33pm
For those saying rules are rules - rules are made for the betterment of all human beings. What did these rules achieve? Did it colossally raise the standard of the institution? or did it make Pakistan lose a great talent a potential doctor who could have healed hundreds?
if he was late should have let him take the exam - the reduced time would have been penalty enough.
I am not ok with the fact that it is an ok thing to block roads for VVIP culture and not give any leniency to a student who's life is dependent on the examination.
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Apr 12, 2016 02:35pm
God forbid anyone in this mental state ever becomes a medical professional he would be a danger to himself and his patients. Medical professionals need a clam and cool attitude..
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Apr 12, 2016 02:35pm
A murder case should be registered against the Principal of the uni.My niece is styding in the Bahria Medical Uni karachi.She is on anti-depression medicines due to unnecessary strictness on attendance.If a student gets sick or meet an accident the univ does not care and the student has to appear in the class on regular basis.This is inhuman.We send our children in medical uni to become doctors not psycopaths.
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Apr 12, 2016 02:39pm
Very Sad...
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Apr 12, 2016 02:41pm
Although feel really sorry for the student but this is not at all a fault of college. They were just acting upon their rules. Also he had a chance to appear in supply exams to compensate it. He should have not committed suicide for that. Universities all around the globe follow these rules.
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Apr 12, 2016 02:49pm
I dont understand why our young generation is soo emotional...so what if they didnt allow him to take the exam...they were offering him to take supplementary exams...he was late and that to 90 minutes late...its not a failure of system...its failure on part of the parents for raising such emotional kids with feeble nerves...
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Apr 12, 2016 02:51pm
What a waste of life.
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Apr 12, 2016 03:07pm
Another precious life lost.....sad.
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Apr 12, 2016 03:17pm
I really dont understand this behavior of educational institutes. If they come late, let them sit and finish the exam with the time that is left. At least let them try and they will also know the value of planning your day.
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Apr 12, 2016 03:19pm
@Michael Desouza . Totally agree with your comments. A medical student or any student must learn to handle stress and failures. Principle was right in advising him to take the supplemental exam. When you reach late to catch a plane (unless you are a VIP in India or Pakistan!) you miss the flight and take the next one. Emotional reaction to this incident seems to be the norm among the readers
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Apr 12, 2016 03:25pm
I cleared my medical exam in supplementary last year I failed once but studied and got through we should be brave plz don't do this
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Apr 12, 2016 03:33pm
it was his right to enter in class , why our people use there power.
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Apr 12, 2016 03:44pm
@Imran nazir This is not systems fault. As per rules he was not allowed. That didnt mean he had to take his life away...
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Apr 12, 2016 03:52pm
Life and good health is more precious than an exam.
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Apr 12, 2016 03:52pm
So sad. RIP. It just reflects the sentiments in the country of despair, frustration, depression while the elite enjoy themselves with off shore companies and flats and properties in Dubai, London and Spain.
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Apr 12, 2016 04:03pm
Rigid bureaucratic culture is destroying our country. Please people of Pakistan stand and fight bureaucrats to help Pakistan.
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Apr 12, 2016 04:12pm
@paggri sambhal Tell me how would you feel if your surgeon came in late to perform your surgery or did not come at all...........attendance matters ........its part of discipline
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Apr 12, 2016 04:15pm
So Cruel. The administration must be charged on criminal and homicide charges.
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Apr 12, 2016 04:16pm
we should not value education so much... or i should say "grades"
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Apr 12, 2016 04:19pm
RIP boy, nation lost precious life. Wish he acted in a bit mature way, remembered his parents before taking such heinous step. Condolences to family from Indians.
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Apr 12, 2016 04:57pm
For all those pontificating 'system failure' or 'fault of the institutions', I have to ask:
Where does personal responsibility come into your equation?
Was this person prevented by anyone from leaving early for the exam center?
Could he not anticipate traffic jams in the congested and clogged streets of Karachi? Was there no other solution to his predicament, besides committing suicide?
How are all his failures somehow someone else's fault!?
Not everything that happens to us is somehow attributable to government's failures (inadequate as it is). Simple common sense can solve a lot of issues. Besides, how many of us have not missed a deadline; appointment or a flight? Did that justify a bullet to one's head!? Does that translate an end of the world?
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Apr 12, 2016 05:00pm
Sad very sad. The victim should have been allowed to sit in exam. Sometimes administrators are unnecessarily very strict but the same people might be very lenient in other cases depending on who is the client they are dealing with.
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Apr 12, 2016 07:36pm
apart from our vip culture mr shah and also the management of university is partially responsible. As if they took his plea seriously and can saw his track record if he was a serious student he should be given a benefit of doubt and should be allowed to sit in exam. If you look in to our system where there is so much job less culture and a young lay man can earn good money by getting a tt pistol where these hard earned poor student go....After all it was his fourth year
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Apr 12, 2016 07:56pm
The University is in no way responsible for an individual's own action, in which no official or employee of the campus participated, facilitated or even incited this individual to take such an action. Besides it happened outside the premises of the school. Case closed.
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Apr 13, 2016 06:53am
@Imran nazir I agree with you buddy.
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