Body handed over to family after postmortem. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
A boy committed suicide in the garrison city after failing his secondary school certificate examination on Thursday, according to the police.
Nauman Farid, 16, a resident of Dhoke Chiragh Din, shot himself the same day the Rawalpindi Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education announced the result. When he checked his result on their website, he found he had failed in one subject which led to the suicide. He shot himself with a 12 bore rifle, said Investigation Officer Sakhawat Hussain. “It seems he was dejected and could not face his parents,” he added.
The police said only the mother was at home at the time of the incident. She awoke upon hearing the sound of gunfire and found her son lying in a pool of blood.
According to the police, he used his father’s gun. The family informed the police who took away the body. The police have recorded the uncle’s statement and after an initial investigation, the death was declared a suicide. The body was handed over to the family after postmortem.
Nauman’s uncle, Ghulam Naveed told The Express Tribune that his nephew was studying in St Mary’s and was weak in studies. “Nauman failed in three subjects in class nine and was under pressure to perform better, but his father was never strict with him.” He was very good in extracurricular activities but not in studies and that led him to commit suicide, he added.
The father, Chaudhry Nazir, was retired and the family belonged to Jhelum, but was settled in Rawalpindi. Nauman was the youngest of four brothers and close to his parents. His two elders brothers are mentally disabled, while the third is settled in the UK.
His friend Muhammad Rizwan said he had met him for sehri, but hadn’t said anything about his result. He often worried about his education and wanted to complete his matric in one go, he added.
Dr Rizwan Taj, head of psychiatry department at Pims, said students take their life when they are disturbed or scared and they cannot face their parents and society. “Students should not be pressurised to get the best grades and receive a lot of encouragement to deter them from taking this extreme step, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2013.
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Very sad story. We as parents and teachers must understand top grades was never a goal of education. Education main purpose is know your sorrounding and yourself, not how to get a job. You can make lot of money if the society supports encourage in all such ields as games, business, trade, design of most every sort etc etc. I have know many places where high score students are hired by the businesses & trades the low score students established. Less educated but hard working person is always several times more enterprising, inventive, creative & has more than one correct answers & approaches to solve a problem than his educated counterpart. From Einstein to Steve Jobs and many top company owners were failed students whose teachers told them how hopeless they are from their success. Once that is clear, education to make a person a good citizen & community member is all there is to it. Also just by pushing a person without taking personal interest in his aptitude, abilities & skills to perform better & better eventually result in his scape from such society in the form mental breakdown, self hatred or violence against self or others in one form or another. Try to understand your children and your students please, they are not computers but humans with heart, flesh & blood.