A number of Zambian students are stuck in India, with no source of income to pay tuition fees and other basics for survival, forcing many to resort to crime, a government official said.
“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 in a statement.
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.
Kapijimpanga revealed that at least 300 Zambian students were documented to be in India studying in various institutions of higher learning.
