TWENTY- one- year old, Greatrest Mengo, has appealed to her father Christopher Mengo Siame, a businessman of Mbala District, Northern Province, to help her get out of India.
“I owe my University US$7000 in form of accommodation and tuition forcing me to be on the street illegally for three years now,” the Medical Laboratory Technology Student at Maharish Makandeshwar University (MMU) in India said.
Mengo said being a girl on the street illegally was the worst untold form of torture urging Zambians to be financially sound before day dreaming about education abroad.
Meanwhile, at least 40 Zambian students were still stranded in various parts of India for various reasons.
“Most students are stranded because of their parents’ failure to sustain payment of school fees, while some have committed offences such as drug abuse and a number have failed examinations but are scared of informing their parents,” Zambia’s High Commissioner to India Judith Kapijimpanga said.
Mrs. Kapijimpanga added that the students could not leave the airports because it was a requirement in India that their schools issue them with *No Objection Travel Certificates* which indicate that they complied with Indian laws, forcing many to start engaging in negative vices for them to survive.
“It is strange that most parents simply send their children to private universities in India without informing the Mission but we only get to know when students have been arrested or have failed to pay school fees,” she said.
Mrs. Kapijimpanga revealed that at least 300 Zambian students were documented to be in India studying in various institutions of higher learning.
“I wish to urge Zambian parents to consult the Zambian Mission in New Delhi on education services in India before sending their children especially that government colleges in Zambia are now far cheaper than troubling innocent souls on a foreign soil,” she said.
This was contained in a statement made available by First Secretary Press and Tourism at the Zambian Mission in New Delhi, India, Bangwe Naviley.
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