East West University student dies by suicide in capital's Khilgaon

An East West University student has died by suicide in the Rasulbag area of the capital's Khilgaon. He was identified as Shihabul Islam (24). He was a student of the university's Summer-2023 semester. He died by hanging himself at his rented residence in Khilgaon around 12:30 am on Monday night. Family members said that after breaking the door and recovering his hanging body, they took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Shihabul was a resident of Gopinathpur village in Shahjadpur upazila of Sirajganj district. He was the second among three siblings. Following his father's death and financial hardship, the three siblings lived together in the capital. According to family sources and peers, due to his father's death and financial distress, Shihabul's education depended entirely on a hundred percent scholarship from the university. To maintain this scholarship, he had to complete 35 credits within a specific timeframe.

However, due to limited courses in the short summer semester, he could not do so. In the following semester, he was forced to take courses of about 20 credits with extra pressure. During this time, his elder sister got married, which also increased his family responsibilities. His peers alleged that despite repeatedly going to the university registrar's office and appealing sympathetically to retain his scholarship, he did not receive any cooperation. Yet, this student, who had completed 55 credits, had a CGPA of 3.95.

"He knew that taking so many credits together would lead to a bad result, and a bad result meant losing the scholarship—meaning the end of his studies. He broke down mentally under this pressure," said a close peer. Students alleged that although classes for this semester were scheduled to last for 5 months as per prior announcement, they were suddenly reduced to 3.5 months, creating extra pressure on many scholarship-holding students. Shihabul's suicide has raised questions about the role of the university administration.

Students said that the administration needed to be more humane towards those whose education depends entirely on scholarships. Khilgaon police station said that the body has been sent for autopsy and an investigation is underway to find out the cause of death.