Right now in India, the ongoing war resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine has become an almost secondary issue. What occupies more of our mind space, is the plight of Indian students stuck in a war zone. Many are stuck in bomb shelters or at the Ukrainian borders with Romania, Poland and so on, unable to get home. In all this, a question emerges – why do so many Indians go abroad to study?
Hundreds of students have been evacuated and we've seen images of government officials posing with students who are back in India. There are also posts in the media where parents are seen thanking the government; especially the Prime Minister for being evacuated. However, thousands of Indian students are still in Ukraine, waiting to be rescued. Many videos of appeals to the government and other agencies to help them get back home have gone viral on social media.
Other videos show how Indian students are being mistreated at borders, some even being kicked or beaten by soldiers. Many of the students are stuck in crowded bunkers and bomb shelters where there are sounds of bombs every few minutes and even getting food and water are a problem. Horrifying videos like this have surfaced where students are appealing for help from – scared, unsure, without information. While these kids are clearly in a terrifying situation, our Prime Minister has raised this question – why are Indian students going abroad to study?
In a webinar, PM Modi asked why it was that so many Indians students were going abroad to ‘small countries’ to study; particularly medicine. He pointed out that this meant billions in lost foreign exchange. He suggested that the private sector and the state governments assist in creating more and better facilities in India to prevent Indian students from having to go abroad.
So why do students go abroad in such large numbers? It is understandable that exceptionally gifted students choose to study in prestigious institutions overseas on scholarships. It is also understandable that the very wealthy send their children to study at expensive schools abroad simply because they can afford to. For this, the USA, UK, Canada, Germany, Singapore etc. are coveted options. But what explains the fact that many parents with more modest means also choose the less prestigious foreign schools?
Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan are popular with students of medicine. Twenty thousand Indian students are currently studying in Ukraine alone. The first reason is cost. Private Indian institutions are way more expensive – doing MBBS in India can cost between 50 lakhs to a crore whereas it can cost about one third that amount in a place like Ukraine.
Secondly, admission into the most coveted Indian institutions is extremely difficult. The competition is brutal and a tiny fraction of aspirants actually manage to get admission. In other words the demand far, far outstrips the number of seats available for students. Many lakhs of students compete for seats a tiny fraction of that number, for competitive exams like JEE, NEET and so on. It should be troubling to us all that so many compete for so little. Preparation takes years of effort and the fees for coaching classes can be steep as well.
Private colleges are often not up to the mark in terms of faculty and course material. For instance, many private engineering colleges churn out graduates who are essentially unemployable. It is just simpler to enroll in a foreign university. Plus students get to experience a different culture for a few years which can also be an enriching learning experience.
Very importantly, students see an education abroad as a gateway to a career and a life abroad. For a lot of young students and professionals, living and working abroad is still very much an aspirational goal. As we wait for our terrified students to return home safely, we need to think long and hard about why they felt compelled to go so far away from home to study in the first place.
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