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Some Aussie institutes ruining
lives of Punjabi, other students
WSN Network
 Melbourne:
After a large number of students of Punjabi and other ethnicities
came under racist attacks in Australia, India's External Affairs
Minister S M Krishna has said some "dubious" educational
institutions in Australia were ruining the lives of young Indians
and asked
Canberra
to come out with new regulations to cover private colleges to undo
the damage. He also said "physical attacks" on Indian students in
Australia and the poor quality of courses and services offered in
many vocational colleges were of concern to India.
"I think they
(vocational colleges) are not only bringing a bad name to Australia
but they are destroying the future of the younger generation of
Indian students," Krishna, who is here on a visit, told 'The
Australian' newspaper.
He also called for
new regulations to cover private colleges and continued reform by
the federal and state governments. However,
Krishna also praised
Canberra and state
governments for responding to
India's
concerns. He said the damage to Australia's reputation in India need
not be long term.
"The Australian and
(state) governments have quickly moved in and started undoing the
damage by a series of measures taken to dispel any notions of
insecurity felt by the Indian student community," he said.
"I would want the
tempo to be maintained so that signals are constantly flowing to
India, so that governments are constantly responding to meet our
concerns," Krishna, who met Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his
counterpart Stephen Smith during his visit, said.
"Some dubious
educational institutions have lured gullible Indian students into
joining some of these institutions. There is a big gap between the
quality of what has been promised and what has been delivered,"
Krishna said. "Some colleges have closed down but full-time
fees have been collected from these students and they are left high
and dry. So they are wandering around the streets of Sydney and
Melbourne and they are a cause of consternation for
India," he said.
"Perhaps there is
case for a new regulatory regime to be put in place as far as these
private education providers are concerned," the Minister said.
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Canberra's envoy designate to New Delhi, Indo-Australian Peter
Varghese has described the racist attacks on Indian students
here as "a hot issue" and said it is more complicated than just
being a racial problem. |
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Meanwhile,
Canberra's envoy designate to New Delhi, Indo-Australian Peter
Varghese has described the racist attacks on Indian students here as
"a hot issue" and said it is more complicated than just being a
racial problem.
"Sure student issue
is a hot issue. We won't be able to ignore it and I don't want to
ignore it. Something that needs to be resolved and explained. I will
be doing what I can," he was quoted as saying during
Krishna's 5-day visit to
Australia.
Varghese, who
replaces Australian High Commissioner John McCarthy in New Delhi
later this month, also strongly refuted that
Australia
was racist.
"No I don't (think
Australia is racist). I think if you look at the way
Australia
has changed in the last 20-30 years you will get a sense of the
country which is when tested is open to accepting people from a wide
range of backgrounds and from cultures and races. I consider it to
be the most multi-cultural society," he said.
Australian society
was free to accept people on their face value and deal with them as
an individual rather than based their race, he said.
Varghese, who also
served as Australia's spy chief, said the student issue is a more
complicated set of issue rather than just being racist attacks, some
of which were linked with each other.
Varghese described
the recent attacks on Indian students as initially a law and order
issue. "In many of the cases, the Indian students were victims of
crime rather than being particularly targeted."
"There could have
been specific cases where motivation could have been racist and I
don't think we exclude that and it is also the case that in some of
these cases you were dealing with the groups who were living in part
of country where crime was higher or (victims) were commuting at odd
hours," he said.
The impression that
the Indian students "as a group are being systematically targeted is
very wrong and misleading," Varghese said, adding he will try his
best to resolve the student issue.
Calling the
Victorian police's advice to Indian students that they should not
talk in Hindi in public as "not practical and desirable," Varghese,
nevertheless, said the students should be equally aware that they
are not putting themselves into a risky situation.
He also suggested
that Indian students take necessary precautions while travelling
during wee hours or going to areas with high crime rate. It will be
sensible thing to do for anyone, he added.
On the educational
institutions of the country that have come under scrutiny for their
performances, Varghese said for "most part I think Indian students
have a productive and positive time spent from what we have found
from our surveys." However, he said there was a feeling of
disappointment over the recent educational scams revealing that the
Australian education institutions were not up to the mark.
"There is a small
slice of educational institutes which we are talking about. Vast
majority of Indian students who are doing courses are happy," he
said, adding that performances of a handful of institutions should
not overshadow the entire education industry of Australia.
12
August 2009
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