"Going Abroad New Disease Among Children": Vice President's Lament

Going abroad, that's the new disease afflicting the children of the country, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said Saturday, lamenting what he called is both a "forex drain and brain drain".

The commercialisation of education, said the Vice President, is adversely impacting its quality which is not good for the future of the nation.

"There is another new disease among children - that of going abroad. The child enthusiastically wants to go abroad, he sees a new dream; but there is no assessment of which institution he is going to, which country he is going to," said Mr Dhankhar speaking at a function organised by a private educational institute in Rajasthan's Sikar.

"It is estimated that in 2024, about 13 lakh students went abroad. An assessment is being made about what will happen to their future, people are now understanding how bright their future would have been if they had studied here," said Mr Dhankhar.

This drain, said the Vice President has created a "hole of $6 billion in our foreign exchange".

The Vice President called upon industry leaders to make students aware and help stop the brain drain and loss of foreign exchange.

"Imagine: if 6 billion US dollars are funneled into improving infrastructure of educational institutions, where we will stand! I call this a forex drain and brain drain. This should not happen. It is the responsibility of the institutions to make their students aware of the foreign situation," he said further.

Education morphing into a business is not good for the future of the nation, underscored the Vice President.

"In some cases, it is even taking the shape of extortion. This is a matter of concern," he said, calling for optimum use of technology to give quality education to the students.

The Vice President also praised the National Education Policy which he called a "game changer".

(With PTI inputs)