Girl dies after falling in school in Karachi

KARACHI: As the schools reopened on Tuesday after a long break due to COVID-19, a 14-year-old student died after falling from the stairs in her school in Karachi’s Gulberg area.

The teenager was identified as Areeba, daughter of Asif, and was a grade nine student at the Happy Palace School, Girls Campus, near Ayesha Manzil. The police team reached the school and initiated investigation into the case. An inquiry committee was also formed to investigate the incident by the education department.

According to school management, apparently the teenager’s foot twisted while she was climbing the six-step stairs after which she fell. According to the school, Areeba was rushed to a private hospital where she succumbed to her injuries. Later, the body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

The family of the deceased student alleged that the teenager passed away due to the negligence of the school management and that the management did not take their child to hospital. They did not inform them of the situation.

The Sindh Education Minister, Saeed Ghani, has sought a report of the incident from DG Private Schools Mansoob Siddique. “The tragedy should be thoroughly investigated,” Ghani directed, inquiring as to why the school administration did not take the girl to hospital immediately after the accident.

No case was registered till the filing of this news story as the parents of the deceased girl reportedly refused to take any action against the school management. The schools, colleges and universities across Pakistan reopened today after six months. The schools were closed in March following emergence of COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier on August, 2019, in a tragic incident, a Grade VI student Zeeshan Durrani drowned in the swimming pool of his school during a swimming class. A case of ‘Qatl-e-Khata’ was registered against the instructors and the school management. Eleven-year-old Usman, son of Zeeshan Durrani, was a Grade VI student of the Habib Public School.

Also on October 2018, a class-seven student died after falling off from the second floor of his school in Block-17 of Gulberg. Police said that 11-year-old Habibullah Ismail fell from the second floor mysteriously. He was taken to the Ziauddin Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. His parents insisted that someone had pushed their child him from the second floor and refused the school version that he had jumped from there. They held the school administration responsible for the incident.