And then we wonder why we are called the Complainers of countries!
In a bizarre turn of events, one Indian-origin student stood up to sue a prestigious university nearly two decades after he graduated from the intuition. Faiz Siddiqui, studied modern history at Brasenose College at Oxford University, accused its staff of “negligent” teaching in his choice of subject in 2000. This supposedly led to him graduating in the second class and a downward curve of his career graph.
Siddiqui’s barrister Roger Mallalieu, told reporters the root of the problem was the absence of more than half of the allotted teachers to Asian history during that time in the college. Four out of seven teachers were on a sabbatical, lamented Siddiqui, which led him to be thrown under the shaky mentorship of David Washbrook, who according to Siddiqui, was not inspiring enough to make him a successful lawyer.
Mr. Mallalieu claimed that the eminent historian’s teaching had suffered from the “intolerable” pressure of the staff shortages on the course. “There is no personal criticism of Washbrook. Our target is on the University’s back for allowing this to happen,” Mr. Mallalieu told the court.
Siddiqui, who trained as a solicitor after college, also apparently suffers from depression and insomnia. He also claims to have a “fundamental inability to hold down any professional day job for any significant length of time” which he blames on his “disappointing examination results.”
The Oxford University, on the other hand, is miffed by such baseless arguments and appeals to strike off such claims because of the long term that has lapsed since the event progressed. The officials further state that even though the staffing problems of the year were true, they had no impact on the college’s students. Julian Milford, the University’s barrister, denied Mr. Siddiqui’s case had any substance, but admitted that “circumstances were difficult” during that year.
Such kind of erratic episodes do make us wonder if there is any genuine basis to the case. Incidents of students going into depression because of their examination results are not unheard of, especially in India where the pressure is mammoth. On the flip side, the world sees its share of attention-seeking and blame-brashing almost on a regular basis. People who can’t handle the way their lives have panned out to be look for ways to expel their anger whereas people who are unable to bear the unfortunate circumstances also try to hold on to such qualms. Which one is it for Faiz Siddiqui who is suing Oxford for 1 million bucks? Well, that is for your imagination to nurture and the court to consider.
