Pakistan: Jinnah College tragedy

The Frontier Post

On the surface of it, too many deaths happened in the terrorist blasts just in the few days of Muharram to worry about the death of a college girl who was already a heart patient and died of cardiac arrest. The college student mentioned above, nevertheless, had just reached her college, Jinnah College for Women in Peshawar, in the morning when she complained of chest pain. Within moments she had a full blown heart attack. The girls of that college are not allowed mobile phones in the college premises, so they could not phone for help. None of the teachers made the call, as the principal had even banned the teachers from making calls when in the college. The principal, Neelofar Zeb, did not make the call because she was not there. She reached the university campus within fifteen minutes but by then the girl was already lifeless. The principal, nevertheless, took the dead girl to the hospital, maybe, just to confirm the death, as her staff had already informed her of the tragedy on phone Some may agree and others may not on the ban on girls carrying mobile phones to college. It is a social issue and we better not touch upon it. However, what is not understandable is that even the teachers did not have the permission to make emergency calls. Also, while the principal had placed a ban on calls, she had not made alternative arrangements in case of life threatening situations. What strikes as more alarming is that a college which houses between sixteen hundred to two thousand students should not have a properly designated experienced and practicing nurse on the post to deal with such emergency situations. An in-touch nurse is needed in such situations before more expert help can arrive or the sick is transported to the hospital. The said collegehas a certified nurse but one who is not practicing and is actually appointed as Bio lab assistant. What is more alarming is that the college works under the management of the University of Peshawar, which has a sixty-year experience of running scores of faculties, and also the College of Home Economics. The Jinnah College incident is worrisome as it casts doubt on the arrangement in faculties and colleges run by the UoP management. There is a mushroom growth of public and private sector schools, colleges and universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the rest of the country and it is now a moot point as to how the conditions in these educational institutions are in this regard. The incident should be a wakeup call for heads of education ministries, education boards, vice chancellors of universities, principals of colleges, headmasters and headmistresses of schools. All these are responsible for the wellbeing of students during study time. It is incumbent upon them to make sure that they make all possible arrangements in this regard. They must, also, see to it that they have special plans for students who have life threatening health problems or suffer from some handicap. Heads of education institutions should also make sure that when they place restrictions upon students and teachers, they have made alternate arrangements for emergencies. The heads of education institutions should remember that they do not sit in their offices to rule but rather to chaperon students. It is a heavy responsibility because they have the future of the nation in their hands.