The Hindu : Kerala News : No system to track foreign students

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Thursday, Dec 04, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala

No system to track foreign students

Staff Reporter

Intelligence agencies issue warnings

No system to track student visa holders who do not enrol
Little scrutiny on students from other States

KOCHI: Lack of an adequate system to track youngsters who come either on student or tourist visas and later ‘disappear’ is causing headache for the heads of educational institutions and the police.

The glaring lapse in the system is all the more serious at a time when the national intelligence agencies have issued warnings that terror elements might creep into the country under the guise of students.

Sources at Mahatma Gandhi University admitted that they do not have an elaborate database system that would track the movement of foreign students joining various colleges affiliated to the university. There is no adequate system to track those who do not enrol or drop out after reaching the country on student visas.

Foreign students joining campuses under exchange programmes usually hold only a tourist visa. Monitoring agencies lack a system to track the movement of these students during their period of stay in the country.

The university and college authorities have little knowledge about the activities of such students after he or she completes the actual duration of the exchange programme.

Heads of some institutions also confessed that there is little scrutiny on students from other States who join various educational institutions here.

The Cochin University authorities said that they keep track of the students living on the campuses but were clueless about the activities of those who stay outside the campus. It is learnt that the city has hundreds of houses that are regularly rented out to students. But police authorities said that the owners rarely cross check the veracity of the claims being made by those who occupy the houses as students. The chances of suspicious elements exploiting the loopholes are high. The police are already at a loss on conducting a proper audit of labourers coming to the district from States like West Bengal and Bihar.

College authorities also pointed out that there was little support from the police in cracking down on suspicious elements. They said that it was not possible for them to keep track of the movement of such people without the support of the police.

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