NEW DELHI: Tasmida Johar, the first Rohingya refugee in India to clear boards examinations, may not be able to study at the university of her dreams — Jamia Millia Islamia — due to the high tuition fee.The university does not conduct entrance exams for foreign students. They are instead required to pay a higher fee. The 21-year-old had applied for the 5-year BA LLB course under the foreign students’ quota at the university, which will cost her more than Rs 10 lakh.
“The fee for one year is USD 3,600 (about Rs 2.45 lakh). The university has offered her a scholarship but we will still be required to pay USD 3,100 (about Rs 2.13 lakh) every year. We can’t even afford that,” said her brother Ali Johar, who is associated with Rohingya Human Rights Initiative (ROHRIngya). He said that through a crowd-sourcing campaign online, they have been able to collect Rs 1.6 lakh “but that won’t be enough”.
“We might somehow be able to manage the fee for one year but won’t have the resources to pay after that and she might have to withdraw,” he said, adding that he would write to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other organisations to request for help with funds.
“If we don’t get more scholarships from elsewhere, we will return donations received from the fund-raising campaign,” he said. Ali said that they were looking for more options like Delhi University but due to high cut-off, Tasmida, whose second option is Political Science, couldn’t make it. She secured 62% in Class 12. “I always wanted to study at Jamia. It feels bad that it doesn’t seem to be working out but let’s see. I might have to study through correspondence,” Tasmida who wants to be a Human Rights Activist.