Database soon of students going abroad for studies

Perturbed over students from India, including Telugus, coming under physical attacks abroad, the State government plans to prepare a database of all those going to other countries for higher studies.

The State government is at its wits end trying to figure out the number of students going abroad. While the US was the preferred destination earlier, Australia is of late attracting a sizable number of students from the State.

In the last three weeks, two Telugu students, Shravan Kumar, an automobile engineering student, and Kadiyala Muralikrishna, a university student from Guntur district, were attacked by locals in Australia and the US.
Non-starter

After the recent incidents, the government tried to gather information about the students from the State but drew a blank. This was because representatives of universities in Australia come here directly and complete the admission formalities without involvement of local educational consultants.

Minister for Higher Education D. Sridhar Babu told The Hindu on Tuesday that “in view of the insecure feeling among students, it has become necessary to create a database of all students going to foreign shores for higher studies. We are in touch with Indian associations in Australia to obtain details of students from Andhra Pradesh. We will also write to the heads of various universities in Australia,” he added.
Separate set-up

The Minister said the need of the hour was to create a separate set-up to handle NRI affairs. “It becomes easy to monitor the well-being of the Telugu community abroad. A team will go to Kerala to study the good practices adopted by the NRI affairs department,” he said.
Special cell

Mr. Sridhar Babu said plans were afoot to set up a special cell at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport to help students going abroad in case of emergency or hardships and those coming back also.
Helpline

A dedicated helpline number is also planned, he added. He said the demand to waive the loans of students, who are victims of attacks abroad, was not feasible as it would involve a huge burden on the exchequer.