A heartbreaking tragedy struck the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Osun State, on Wednesday as a female final-year student, identified as Kolawole Zainab, collapsed and died while preparing to write her examination.
Zainab, a Higher National Diploma (HND) II student in the Department of Quantity Surveying, reportedly slumped during revision for her first-semester examination, which was scheduled to hold by 12 noon. She was said to have been a mother of three children.
Eyewitnesses said the incident occurred just minutes before the scheduled exam time. Zainab was immediately rushed to the institution’s medical centre, but on arrival, she was declared dead by medical personnel.
A student of the polytechnic, who asked not to be named, confirmed the incident, saying the tragic news sent shockwaves across the campus and forced many students into mourning. “She was preparing for an exam when she collapsed. I doubt if her class went ahead with the examination after that,” the student said.
The death of Zainab has left her classmates, lecturers, and the larger school community devastated. The incident has sparked conversations among students about stress management and the need for improved health support within academic institutions.
One of the lecturers at the polytechnic, David Olufunsho Fagboungbe, expressed his grief in an emotional post on Facebook, writing with crying emojis: “Tears, agony and grief today as female HND QS student of Federal Polytechnics, Ede, and mother of 3 dies in the heat of ongoing first-semester examination.”
Confirming the incident, the Acting Director of Information, Protocol and Public Relations of the institution, Mr. Sola Lawal, told The Guardian that the student was brought in dead to the medical centre. “It is true. Her name is Kolawole Zainab, an HND II student. She was brought in dead to the school medical centre,” he stated.
Zainab’s sudden passing has thrown the institution into mourning, serving as a painful reminder of the intense pressure faced by many students in the Nigerian tertiary education system.
Credit: TheGuardian
