NEW DELHI: The plight of Indian students who had to return to Ukraine amid a brutal war continues to worsen as they face discrimination and hostility from sections of the local population.
Many Ukrainians see India as supportive of Russia in the Ukraine war and want Indians to leave their country. This hostility has escalated since Ukraine launched its ambitious counter-offensive in June.
“Locals are demanding that they leave the country. The situation has deteriorated over the past eight weeks,” a national daily quoted a student as saying.
These students are in constant communication with their respective state governments and the ministry of health and family welfare, seeking approval to transfer to universities in other countries. Unfortunately, their pleas have been met with no positive outcome.
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As per official figures, there were around 23,000 students – majority of them pursuing medical – when the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine in February last year. Under India’s Operation Ganga, the government had evacuated approximately 18,000 students from Ukraine in the preceding months.
These students had hoped to continue their studies in Indian institutions or foreign universities. However, that option didn’t materialize. Though the majority of India students have got themselves transferred to other countries like Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, around 3,400 students chose to take risks and returned to Ukraine since January 2023 to complete their degrees, against the government’s advice.
“If we stay back in India and conduct our studies through online mode, the National Medical Commission (NMC) won’t recognise our degrees,” said a student on X, formerly Twitter.
Harassment and discrimination are not new for Indian students in Ukraine. When hordes of students were travelling miles to cross to neighbouring countries before India’s evacuation mission started, several of them were assaulted by Ukrainian guards and were subjected to racial abuse by locals.
In February 2022, Shruti Nayak, a third-year MBBS student at Ivano National Medical University, alleged that Ukrainian guards had physically assaulted Indian students attempting to flee the war zone. Videos depicting a security officer striking a student went viral as stranded students attempted to reach Ukraine’s western borders.
In November last year, a student named Afsha Khan said that Ukrainian nationals chose to maintain a distance from Indian medical professionals and trainees.
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Despite the ongoing war, around 4,000 students who returned from Ukraine managed to complete their mandatory internships in Indian medical colleges. However, the remaining students sought assistance from the National Medical Council (NMC) and the Central government for accommodations in Indian medical colleges. However, the NMC declined to provide such accommodations, prompting the students to file a petition with the Supreme Court.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed the court that the present laws in India do not permit Indian colleges to admit these students.
“Government’s treatment of us feels like step motherly behavior. We are literally depressed. Without the government’s permission for a one-time transfer out of Ukraine, we risk losing both our time and money,” said a girl student, who is staying back in India.