Indian students in UK struggle to survive

London, Nov 30: A BBC Radio 5 documentary has exposed the sorry state of the Indian students in the United Kingdom as they struggle to make ends meet.

Unable to find a part-time job to pay for accommodation, food and studies, the students are forced to go to forced to eat and even seek refuge in gurdwaras in Southall.

And the students who can barely sustain themselves here are reluctant to return back to India fearing shame and humiliation, revealed the documentary which was aired on Sunday, Nov 29.

"I can't afford to rent a room, I'm borrowing money from relatives at home just to buy my bus fare to college. I will only be able to rent a room if I can find a job, if I can't find one I will return to India," Nitin Walia, a student who has sought refuge at the gurdwara told BBC.

The situation in Britain worsened due to recession combined with three-fold fold jump in the number of Indian students landing in the UK.

"We see hundreds of students hanging out in the streets, but there could be thousands. Most come here every day for food. We are happy to provide food," said Didar Singh Randhawa, president of Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Southall.

He added that when the students ask for accommodation, they provide them shelter for day or two but no longer.

Drawing attention to the false hopes that the agents in India are giving the students, Ravi Singh, a Business Management student, said, "But it's totally different here, there are no jobs."

Apart from this, the students also spoke on how they were deceived by the colleges.

"On the internet the college shows it's a big campus, but when I got here I saw it's just one small building with box rooms. We could find better colleges in India," Randhawa said.

OneIndia News