Russian offer not welcome by Kerala students sent back from Ukraine

Russia’s offer that the Indian students evacuated from Ukraine could resume their education in Russia has not gone down well with the students and their parents.

According to the students and the parents, medical degrees from Russia are not being accepted in the United States, the United Kingdom and many other European countries. Apart from that, the situation in Russia, which has been at war with Ukraine since February end, is not conducive for studies either.

Moreover, the offer came from a Russian Mission official, but neither the Centre nor the Kerala government gave any clarification about it, the students and their parents said. They said they had already suffered the trauma of being evacuated from war-torn Ukraine, and the parents did not want to send their children again to risky zones.

Russian Deputy Chief of Mission to India Roman Babushkin made the offer during an interaction with the media. The Russian mission official also said that they had taken up the matter with the Non-Resident Keralites Affairs department.

Some of the parents of students evacuated from Ukraine even contacted the Russian Honorary Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday but did not get a favourable response.

The students and their parents were awaiting a favourable response from the Centre about their demand that the students be allowed to resume their medical education in India, considering the circumstances that forced them to return, said All Kerala Ukraine Medical Students' and Parents' Association vice president Venugopal Kannoth.

Out of the 22,000-odd Indian students repatriated from Ukraine, around 3,900 were from Kerala—and most of them were pursuing medical education.

The delay by the government to take a decision about the future of their higher education has also been a cause of worry among the students and the parents.

There were also disturbing reports about some parents taking extreme steps—reportedly due to the mounting stress over their children's future.