M A I N   N E W S

Finally, Oz initiates steps to protect Indian students
Ashok Tuteja
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 16
Just when one thought External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had returned with empty promises from his visit Down Under, the Australian authorities have started putting in place a string of measures to protect foreign students, particularly those from India.

The Victorian state government has employed an additional 120 full-time police officers on the streets to help make the public, especially the student community, safer.

Other key measures on the anvil include better policing and lighting of secluded areas, close-circuit television surveillance at vulnerable areas, day-night students call centres at Melbourne, introduction of mobile surveillance vans, security around transport hubs and audit of private Australian institutions. It goes to the credit of both the leaderships of India and Australia that they have not allowed the spate of attacks on Indian students in Australia in recent months to cast a shadow on the bilateral ties.

The flourishing Australian education industry is one of the biggest foreign exchange earning instruments in Australia. There are nearly 97,000 Indian students studying in Australia -- the second highest after the Chinese. The Australian authorities say many of the attacks on Indian students were carried out by their compatriots. Kunal, an Indian student studying commerce at the prestigious Monash University, acknowledged while talking to The Tribune that many of the attacks on Indian students were linked with robberies and were not racial in nature.

Even the outgoing Australian High Commissioner to India John McCarthy had stated in a recent interview to The Tribune that while some of the attacks appeared to have a racial motive, many of them were “opportunistic”, that is, they were standard robberies that happened to have involved Indian students.

But the fact of the matter is that these unabated attacks have made many of the parents, particularly in North India, reconsider the option of sending their wards Down Under for higher studies.

Many believe that unless firm steps are taken by the Australian authorities, the flow of Indian students to Australia will come down drastically and that will obviously be bad news for the booming education industry there.

The Indian foreign minister impressed upon the Australian authorities that measures were needed to address the legitimate grievances of Indian students so that they could get quality educational experience.

The Australian Government, while assuring him of firm steps to check racial attacks, also, however, asked him to see that the quality of Indian students coming to Australia was not below the mark. It is generally felt in Australia that many of the Indians students indulge in activities that bring a bad name to their country. Undeterred by the recent developments, the Australian authorities, meanwhile, are organising roadshows in various Indian cities to promote education in Australia.

Already done

n Victorian state government has employed an additional 120 full-time police officers on the streets to help make the public, especially the student community, feel safer.

On the anvil

n Better policing and lighting of secluded areas.

n Close-circuit television surveillance at vulnerable areas.

n Day-night students call centres at Melbourne.

n Security around transport hubs and audit of private Australian institutions.

Revenue getter

n Around 97,000 Indian students study in Australia, the second highest after the Chinese.