KATHMANDU, Feb 24: Taking strong exception to the UK government´s decision of suspending registration of some colleges and barring students from applying for visas, Nepal has asked Britain to take steps to ensure refunding of Nepali students.
In a recent letter to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Nepali Embassy in London has categorically raised concern over the money paid by the Nepali students -- both studying in the suspended colleges and those who have been enrolled but not been allowed to apply for visa. [break]
“I told them [concerned FCO officials] that Nepali students have made no mistake by being enrolled in the colleges that have now been suspended on the charge of being substandard,” said Nepali Ambassador to the UK Suresh Chandra Chalise told myrepublica.com about his recent meeting with FCO officials in London.
“The students did not know about the status of the colleges at the time of admission and should not be punished for no fault of their own.”
In response, FCO officials said that they would look into Nepal´s concerns, according to Chalise.
In an abrupt decision early this year, the UK Border Agency, which looks into applications from foreign nationals to enter or stay in the UK, announced it would not accept student visa applications from Nepal, north India and Bangladesh.
The British agency, while taking the decision, said that it discovered that the visa system was being misused by sending wrong candidates. It also complained that some students, who applied for visas under the Tier 4 system, came from below par educational institutions.
In a bid to control a rapid and steady inflow of unqualified students, especially from South Asia, the UK Border Agency had also suspended registrations of more than 100 colleges in England, leaving thousands of Nepali students in the lurch. It is estimated that the decision has affected a large number of students studying in the UK.
Nepali students have lost millions of rupees as a result.
“It is still not clear how many Nepali students have been affected by the British decision,” the ambassador said over phone from London.
Meanwhile, Nepali community, affected students, British solicitors and British intellectuals held a meeting in London on Monday to discuss the problem, according Chalise. Chalise himself took part in the meeting.
Similarly, the embassy has asked the government to take some precautionary steps to prevent the students from making the wrong move.
In a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the embassy has urged the government to take immediate measures to monitor educational consultancies. The embassy has also asked the government to make it mandatory for students to pay consultancies only through bank accounts. Currently, students have been found paying consultancies in cash or through drafts.
The embassy expects that such an arrangement may help students to get their money refunded in case consultancies cheated them.
In April, 2008, the UK had introduced a new policy, relaxing criteria for foreign students to study in British colleges. The policy caused a sharp increase in the number of Nepali students going to the UK for study.
Altogether 6,627 Nepali students had taken no objection letter from the Ministry of Education to apply in British colleges in the fiscal year 2065/66 BS.
kiran@myrepublica.com