GUNTUR: Still recovering from over a week-long nightmare before his evacuation from war-torn Ukraine, Sai Kamalesh, an economics student of Kyiv National Economic University, said he will never go back to the Eastern European country and is now exploring opportunities in Canada.
“I’ve no intention to return to Ukraine. I can’t get over the horrors. We were pushed out of a train and beaten by locals. I don’t think I can ever feel safe there. So I’m looking for other options even if they require me to start the course all over again. I’m considering studying economics in Canada,” Kamalesh, who had completed one year of his degree at the Kyiv university, said. He hails from Guntur district.
Like Kamalesh, a number of Indian students who returned from Ukraine are worried about their future and awaiting what the government will decide for them.N Sirisha, a fourth-year medical student of the Vinnytsia National Pirogov Medical University, is desperate to finish her degree even if she has to return to Ukraine. Her university has started online classes this week.
“Attending online classes is not new for us as we have already got used to them during the Covid-19 pandemic. The college management has informed us that physical classes will resume from September.”
On why she wanted to go back to Ukraine, she said: “I really hope that the situation there gets better in the next few months so that we can return to our colleges. The course pattern in India is completely different. It will get messy to discontinue there and start here again.”
R Roja, a third-year medical student at the Kharkiv Medical University, is, however, uncertain of what she wants to do. She was earlier informed by the university that the physical classes may start by March 20, and she could be asked to return to Ukraine.
She said: “I have not completely recovered from the difficulties I had to face to reach India. I don’t know if I’ll be able to cope with them so soon. The Indian government should give us clarity so that we can plan whether to wait here or return to our universities.”