Langars: Students’ survival source Down Under

“Though Gujarati students constitute the bulk of Indian students migrating to the UK for diploma courses and are crazy about settling abroad,they end up taking admissions in unrecognised colleges and pay huge sums for courses that are of little value in securing admissions in recognised universities,” said Vishnu Pandya,General Secretary of the Vishwa Gujarati Samaj.

He added: “A large number of such students are now living in pathetic conditions. Swaminarayan temples and other local temples have been feeding them and providing them accommodation for a couple of days.”

Some Indian hotels provide rooms to such students at concessional rates. About 15 to 20 students share a single room. An estimated 10,000 students from Gujarat alone are studying in the UK at present while 52,000 students from across the country have migrated in the current year (according to figures provided by the British High Commission).

A Public Relation Officer of BAPS Swaminarayan Group said: “There are a few BAPS Swaminarayan temples that are offering supper on weekends. Other temples also provide accommodation. Three to four gurudwaras are offering langar and accommodation to such students. We have highly educated sadhus at our temples in the UK and Australia,who try to solve the problems of the students.”

Kitty Tawakle,the deputy head of the Press Section of the British High Commission said: “The students are looked upon as ‘illegal’ by the government,which strips them off any local help as well. Once the students realise that they have been duped by the ‘agents’ back home,they also realise that they have been stripped of any possibility of support from the UK government,as in the process,they flout the rules for admission and the general visa rules.”

Though the government is unable to do anything and an exact estimate of the number of ‘illegal’ students remains impossible,it has been running campaigns to deter the illegal student traffic. The number of Indian students making it to recognised universities in the UK has doubled in the present year (crossed 52,000 in 2009- 2010) as compared to 29,000 last year (2008-2009).