Hyderabad:
Telangana students who went to Ukraine to study medicine will now have their studies funded by the state government, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said after a major debate on why Indian students go abroad to study medicine. Making the announcement in the state assembly today, Mr Rao said 740 students from the state were studying medicine in Ukraine and have now returned from the war-torn nation. “We will write to the Center saying we will support them,” Rao said in his address.
The central government recently evacuated more than 18,000 Indians from Ukraine. Most of them were students who went to study medicine, the cost of which is cheap in the former Soviet republic.
The Russian invasion in February came as a major blow to the students, who found themselves stranded without adequate food, water and in some cases shelter. Naveen Shekharappa Gyangoudar, a student from neighboring Karnataka state, was killed in Russian shelling in Kharkiv.
Back home, a debate ensued over whether the students needed to go abroad.
While some argued that only those students who fail to clear the medical entrance exam in India go abroad, others argued that India does not have enough medical seats to accommodate all eligible candidates.
The controversy intensified after Union Minister Pralhad Joshi’s remarks that students study abroad after “failing to qualify” in competitive exams in India.
This drew a sharp reaction from the grieving father of Naveen Shekharappa Gnanagoudar, who drew attention to the high cost of studying medicine in India. His son, he said, was an intelligent student who had to move to Ukraine because he could not afford to study medicine in India.
“Here the donation is very high for those who want to study medicine. Intelligent students will go abroad to study, and they spend less amount than in Karnataka. Here, a student has to get a medical seat under quota. Crores will have to be paid,” he said.