Its been 12 days since Russia started its invasion on Ukraine. The Russian army has captured the eastern border of Russia Ukrainian border regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and declared them sovereign states.
The Russian army has reached Kyiv, the capital and another important city Kharkiv. These also happen to be cities where thousands of Indians are studying medicine. Being in a war zone, airport is closed and students have no choice but to reach the nearest border by any means possible. Those who travelled for 10-15 hours to reach Kyiv were sent back. It was suggested that they head to Romania and Poland borders and cross the Ukraine border to reach India.
There have been accounts of racism by Ukrainian border forces towards Indian and African students. Many viral videos show only Ukranians allowed to cross the border. With the temperature of 5 degrees and falling to below -5, students are stranded outside with no food, water or toilet facilities.
One student form Karnataka have died due to shelling from the Russian side. A 22-year-old Indian student named Chandan Jindal died on Wednesday in Ukraine after suffering a stroke. Another student from Punjab also got hit and is hospitalised. Several students have also sustained injuries due to attacks by the army and suffering from cold and anxiety attacks. Still they are waiting for help from Indian government but not getting any response from the Indian embassy.
After much hue and cry and death of one student, Indian delegation ramped up its efforts to bring back students but that is also made into a PR drive.
These students, who have been victims of the war, are being punished for none of their wrongdoing. It is not easy to imagine their pains, anxieties and sufferings. We speak to some of the students and their parents who have managed to return to Karnataka to understand their ordeal.
4. Why do Indian students head to Ukraine for medical education?
“My daughter scored 100 on 100 in Biology in her Pre-University exams. She has scored more than 90 in other subjects including English. However, the NEET exams did not go well for her. All students have to compete for only a few seats which seems like a game of musical chairs where only a few get to win. We belong to the middle class and cannot afford private medical seats. Hence, I decided to send my daughter to Ukraine for medical education” said Shivaraju, a resident of Kanakapura, located outside bangalore, whose daughter is studying at the Bukovinian State Medical University in Chernivtsi, Ukraine.
Further, “the first year of my daughter’s medical education cost Rs. 9 lakhs towards fees, hostel and plane tickets. The second year cost around 3.5 lakhs. Students are divided into batches of 13 and are given individual attention and better quality education. Why is it not possible to provide similar education in India? Why aren’t there more government colleges? Why is the share of private colleges more than 60%?” he asks.
Modi Govt. Responsible for the Plight of Indian Students in Ukraine: Siddaramaiah
“The Government of Karnataka should reduce the cost of medical education in the long run. Only the wealthy in Karnataka are able to afford medical education. However, middle-class families are unable to afford the heavy costs and hence are forced to send their children to low-cost foreign university to get educated. This is exactly why we had to send our son to Ukraine, ”said Fernandez from Udupi, whose son is studying at the Town National Medical University in Ukraine.
Listening to both of them speak, we understand the harsh truth of how expensive has education become in our state and our country and how it is being privatized and made a commodity to be traded.
Education has become an expensive privatised commodity. The education sector is no longer a service, but a mafia by which big businessmen and politicians make money. Even the middle classes, with some difficulty, take loans and send their wards to countries like Russia and Ukraine that provide low-cost education. But what do the poor, who make up almost 60% of our country’s population do? The question that must be raised is, whether we have assumed that they do not need education.
However, Prime Minister Modi is now appealing for private investors to invest in medical education. Despite education already being unaffordable for the poor, Prime Minister Modi seems too eager to transfer his responsibility (responsibility of the state) of providing education to private entities. We have no idea when the Ukraine war will cease. In this context, what is the future of the students who are now half-educated at Ukraine? The government has no answer as to whether the costs incurred by the students and their families, be returned or compensated.
