India in talks with Ukraine's neighbours for continuing education of evacuated students: S Jaishankar

Jaishankar said the Ukrainian has offered relaxation for students for two key examinations in their medical programmes
Dr S Jaishankar (Pic: PTI)
Dr S Jaishankar (Pic: PTI)

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar updated, on Wednesday, April 6, that India is in talks with countries like Hungary, Romania, Kazakhstan and Poland regarding continuing the education of students evacuated from Ukraine. Responding to a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the situation in Ukraine, Jaishankar said that the Ukrainian government too has offered relaxation for students for two key examinations in their medical programmes.

He said that the Ukrainian government has decided there would be a relaxation for students with respect to promotion from the third to the fourth year. "The mandatory CROC exam has been postponed to the next academic year. As for the students in the sixth year, the degrees would be accorded without taking the mandatory CROC-2 examination. The criterion would solely be academic performance," Jaishankar told the House.

He noted that Hungary had offered to allow students evacuated from Ukraine to complete their medical courses at its universities. "In addition to Hungary, there were offers from other countries. We have been in touch with Hungary, Romania, Kazakhstan and Poland about continuing education for the students evacuated from Ukraine because these countries have similar education systems," he said.

He highlighted that ministries of education and health were aware of the matter and were exploring ways on how those evacuated from Ukraine could continue their education. The finance ministry has also asked banks to assess the impact of the Ukraine crisis on the educational loans offered by them to students in Ukraine, the minister told members. According to him, there are 1,319 students who have outstanding loans. 

While responding to issues raised by members during the course of the discussion on Tuesday, the minister said some students did not leave as they thought it would disturb their education. Several universities at that time had refused to offer online courses, he said, adding that a university in Kyiv said it cannot convert to an online system. "There was one in Odessa which said we can have online classes till February 25 only. A university in Kharkiv — the embassy kept calling them and even sent someone to meet — were not willing to meet," he said.

Some universities suggested that students should stay back as things won't get serious, he said. Referring to reports back then that Russia was withdrawing some of its units, Jaishankar said when he checked it personally from the Ukrainian end and they were asking students not to panic as they could control things. He said such signalling had put the students in a dilemma.

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