ONCE again, monsoon rains laid bare the reality of Karachi’s broken drainage system and failed urban planning. It was a slight drizzle which turned into a heavy spell within no time. Many students of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) initially waited at home, thinking the rain might ease off, but the relentless pressure of 85 per cent mandatory atten-dance forced them to attend classes even if their lives were at risk.

Universities, instead of prioritising student safety, enforce rigid attendance policies as if classrooms matter more than human lives. It was this callousness on the part of the DUHS administration that forced students to suffer flooded streets, trauma and injury. Luckily, there were no deaths.

By the afternoon, sewage water had overrun the city. Near the Civil Hospital and around DUHS itself, roads had become rivers. Only I know how I reached home. Later, messages flooded our class groups: entire buses of students remained stranded for up to 10 hours without food, water or phone battery. Some messages were posted at 3am by students who had still not reached home. Imagine the plight of their families as they waited in fear. How helpless they must have felt.

This was not just routine mismanage-ment; it was a grave failure on the part of the DUHS administration that endangered young lives. After 78 years of independence, if the authorities still cannot give Karachi a working drainage system, they should at least announce a precautionary holiday.

No lecture, no attendance policy, and no examination is worth more than a human life. Both the government and the DUHS administration failed to protect the students when they needed protection. Their act of negligence was not just a case of oversight. They were directly complicit in the trauma the students had to endure.

Name withheld on request
Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2025