Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to identify colleges abroad to enable medicos who had returned from war-torn Ukraine to pursue their medical courses.
In a Demi-Official letter to the Prime Minister, Stalin drew his attention to the anguish caused among the medical students who have returned from Ukraine and said the students have already lost one year of their education, while seeking his urgent intervention on the matter.
“I wish to draw your attention to the anguish caused among the medical students who have returned from Ukraine by the recent stand taken by the Union Government in the Supreme Court. In the case filed by the students seeking accommodation in colleges in India, the Union Government has informed the Court that Indian medical students who returned from Ukraine cannot be accommodated in medical colleges in India. This position has been taken citing that there is no provision in the National Medical Commission Act allowing it and such relaxation will hamper the standards of medical education in India.”
“In addition, it has been stated that the no-objection for academic mobility between foreign universities for students who could not complete their courses in Ukraine cannot be used as a backdoor entry into Indian colleges offering UG Courses”, he pointed out.
Stalin said the Lok Sabha committee on External Affairs had recommended that the returned students can be accommodated in the medical colleges in India and the students were very hopeful. But the contrary stand taken by the Union Government has dashed the hopes of these students.
“This needs to be reconsidered. If accommodating such returned students in government medical colleges is deemed difficult, these students can be accommodated in private colleges by creating additional seats as a one time measure.”, Stalin said
Since these students sought education in Ukraine due to their inability to pay the higher fees in private medical colleges in India, a special dispensation may be considered in the form of a comparable fee structure in private medical colleges in India similar to the fees paid by the students abroad. This will allow the affected students to continue their education paying the same level of fees In addition, the Chief Minister also requested the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to actively identify colleges and Universities abroad suitable for these medical students under the academic mobility program. This process of identifying appropriate colleges and accommodating our students needs to be centrally coordinated rather than leaving it to individual students to scout for colleges in various countries.
An appropriate framework may kindly be put in place for this process, he said and sought the Prime Minister’s urgent intervention in this regard.
