Punjab Government may soon open a separate department which will be focused on sending the youth of the state to study abroad for higher studies and helping them get their dream job in a foreign country. This move came by the government after a lot of complaints were being received by the government regarding fraudulent activities of agencies working in this regard.
The trend of studying and working abroad has escalated over the past few years. Those days are history when sending your child to study abroad for higher studies and Indians pursuing a job outside the country was a big deal. Nowadays getting your hands on a foreign college seat and bagging a job paying handsome salary in dollars has become much easier.
In 2016, more than 5 million international students were studying outside their home country of which 3,00,000 were Indian students. As per a study by UNESCO, India is the second-largest country in the world after China to have sourced international students abroad.
Data analysis by UNESCO Institute of Statistics tells that the number of Indian students studying abroad has increased from 66,713 in 2000 to 3,01,406 in 2016. This means an average annual growth rate of 22 per cent in 16 years.
Source: www.CNBCTV18.com
However, it still needs students to go through a lot of procedures and formalities for getting their dream college program abroad. Getting a Visa, applying for colleges on time, filling long admission applications, getting other papers ready like a letter of recommendation, research paper etc takes up a lot of efforts at student’s end. Hence, multiple agencies are working the market which helps the students with the process of applying for admissions, getting Visa and other residual formalities.
However, many times, these agencies turn out to be fraudulent and student’s lack of knowledge in this regard, make them fall prey to such fraudsters. Students end up paying commission/fees to the agencies and then the agencies either stop to respond or just fly away with their money.
Thus, in a recent event, Punjab State Government has announced that they may soon be setting up a separate department in this regard. Punjab Employment Generation Department will have a separate section working as an agency for students who wish to study and work abroad. This move was announced as a consequence of multiple complaints received from the students who have been duped by agencies for abroad studies and jobs.
The Punjab government has also applied to the Union Government for registering the department as an agency for sending young students abroad for higher studies and work purposes.
Charanjit Singh Channi, Minister of Punjab Employment Generation Department said: “The Department has paid Rs. 50 lakh fee to the Union government for registering the department as an agency for sending the youth abroad for studies and jobs.”
An official of the department also said that states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Telangana are already sending young talents from the state to abroad for studies and working. Hence, it is time for Punjab as well to start working in this regard.
During the conversation, Mr Channi also recognized that there are a large number of youth who dream of wanting to go abroad for further studies and working. A majority of these youngsters get duped by reprobate travel agents. He acknowledged how several complaints have been received in this regard.
“There is no doubt that youngsters are being duped and to end this loot, the government itself is coming up as a player,” he added.
Further, the creation of one such department will not only save the youngster from frauds but will also help them financially. This is because the government won’t be charging commission like agents from the students.
The foreign institutes pay 30 to 40% of the fees received from the students as commission to the agents for bagging them admissions. From average fees paid of Rs. 14 lakh around 4 to 5 lakh rupees goes into the accounts of agents.
Mr Channi described that government will tie-up with foreign institutes and the commission which would otherwise have been credible to the agents will be returned to the students by the government agency. Thus, it will help students financially by saving 30 to 40% fees.
Mr Channi said “The agency will tie-up with foreign institutes. This will save students from frauds as well as help them financially. The commission which foreign institutes pay to the agents would be returned to the department. The Department will return this commission to students, thus will help them save Rs. 3 to Rs. 4 lakh.”
He further described that every year 60,000 to one lakh youngster move to abroad for higher studies and employment opportunities. The setting up of a new department in this regard will benefit a large number of youngsters. He told that the department will try to tie up with foreign public universities offering education at reasonable rates. A web-portal will be developed by the department in this regard and foreign universities and institutes will listen upon the website after thorough verification.
Speaking about the number of unemployed youth in the state, Mr Channi said that the government do not have the exact figures right now. However, the government is working upon it and will have exact figures in the upcoming 3 months.
He further discussed setting up of a call centre by the department in this regard which will assist the unemployed youth in getting appropriate jobs. Department will appoint a team of 100 professionals in this regard. Mr Channi told that the state government will be hosting a mega job fair in September from 9th to 30th. This job fair will yield the unemployed youth with around 2.10 lakh jobs under the Ghar-Ghar Rozgar scheme of the government.
This is a great initiative by the Punjab Government. This move will surely restore the faith of youth in the government, who are unable to get employment even though they are skilled and have appropriate experience. Don’t you think that every state should have a department which solely works for providing students with the opportunity of studying abroad and enduring them with appropriate job opportunities? Share your views on this in the comment section below.
