30 troubled Nepali students returning home from Mauritius

SMRITI DHUNGANA

KATHMANDU, Sept 14: Carrying dreams of returning home with a foreign degree that would help them to get good jobs at home, 30 students who went to Mauritius three months ago are returning home with shattered dreams.

The students had gone to Mauritius to complete the sixth semester of their tourism and hotel management course at Dimensions International Education Group in Port Louis, but had to return without completing it. The troubles that the students underwent came to light through a video on YouTube where they also pleaded for help.

“The consultancy and our college together have tricked us. We’re appealing for help since we’re in trouble here. We’ll also request students not to come here for studies,” Diwas Neupane says in the video. Another student, Amit Bista, says that the students were compelled to sleep in public rest houses. “We’re sleeping in a public place. The local people have been quite supportive though,” Bista says on the video. It’s stated that they had difficulties right after a month of their arrival.


Nepali students stage hunger strike in Mauritius to pressurize the college to send them back home.Photo Courtesy: Students in Mauritius

Out of the 35 students who went to Mauritius through Britain International Education in Putali Sadak, 19 are returning home.

According to Bhadra Rai, director of Britain International Education, the students had ignored the rules of the college and given priority to their internship instead of completing their course. “Half of the students attended just a month of college. This problem came up because they wanted facilities given to students who pay a certain amount. The fact is that they’re studying there for a cheaper price, so the college can only offer so much facility for them” he said.

Rai also stated that the students had demanded Samsung Galaxy mobile phones from the college. “When they roughed up the college principal, the issue was taken to court. They’re doing this because they wanted to join another college with their reimbursed money,” he claimed. Apart from the 19, the rest of the students are still studying in the college, he informed.

The students who are returning to Nepal are from Kathmandu, Hetauda and Banepa.

“We got into trouble when we went to the consultancy on the basis of an advertisement. We spent Rs 550,000. This is small city and we haven’t been able to get any jobs. Though our visa is for a year, we were able to attend the college just for a month. Also, the college did not provide us with the promised accommodation, so we’ve been staying in this public rest house,” said Anju Dhital, one of the students who is soon heading back to Nepal.
Another student, Rina Maharjan said that she chose Mauritius for further studies because it’s considered to be a good place for a course in tourism. She claimed that the college she got admitted to, misbehaved with her.

Mauritius police had arrested two Indians from the college management for fraud on the basis of the Nepali students’ statement. Similarly, Samir Bhandari, resident of Kavresthali, had been arrested for threatening the college administration.

At present, there are almost a hundred Nepali students studying in various colleges in Mauritius. “Our dream of studying abroad has trapped us. When the trouble arose, we went to talk to the college principal, but the principal pushed a student. Later, as we went to settle the matter, we were accused of roughing the principal. We’re here to study; we don’t even have money for lawyers. How will we file a case in the court?” questions Sushant Poudel. He accuses the college for all the problems that have risen.

“When they didn’t fulfill the promises they had made us earlier, we decided not to study there. We had sent the money through the bank and we’re asking it back. According to what they had told us, we were to study for six months and another six months of internship was to be arranged by the college. One month of accommodation was to be free of cost. However, since we arrived we’ve been spending Rs 18 thousand per month to stay here, and that too, four in a room,” he says.

As per last Tuesday’s agreement, the college will not be returning any of their tuition fees but will be arranging for their tickets back home. So, the 30 students will be returning to Nepal on September 20.