H.E.Manpreet Vohra, India’s High Commissioner to Australia and David Shoebridge, MP NSW, Greens
By Neeraj Nanda
MELBOURNE, 13 August 2021: The Indian High Commissioner Mr. Manpreet Vohra, recently at the inauguration of the Australia India Institute’s ‘India Week’, raised concern over thousands of Indian overseas students studying in Australia and now stuck in India because of the pandemic. Mr. Bohra said Indians are suffering as they are paying full fees and studying online.
This issue has been raised in many forums and uncertainty continues to grip the students. They are not sure when they will be back in Australia. Another concern is some of them have taken COVID vaccines in India, not being used in Australia. So, will they be considered vaccinated or not?
Meanwhile, the Greens NSW MP David Shoebridge has echoed Mr. Vohra’s concerns for Indian students. He has issued a statement:
“The failure of the Morrison Government to build a safe, reliable, and effective public quarantine system for international students has caused this mess.
“Right now, universities and students are united in trying to find a pathway for international students to return.
“The refusal of the Coalition government to lift restrictions on student travel and create safe quarantine facilities to allow this to happen is especially hurting students from India who have paid significant fees and are facing months more of sub-standard online learning.
“This is a serious crisis in higher education, and it won’t be fixed until we have a Federal Government that cares about its impact on students and universities,” Mr. Shoebridge said.
