‘We have been asking our universities in China to call us back, but there has been no response,’ say students

A group of medical students from Maharashtra meets Amit Deshmukh. Pic/Rachita Kurmi

As the Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi visited India today to meet his counterpart S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the medical students in India pursuing online education for MBBS degree from Chinese universities started a Twitter campaign to grab the attention of authorities. The students want to return to China for offline studies.

Over 20,000 Indian medical students have been pursuing education from Chinese universities. The students are worried about lack of response from universities, changing rules of India's National Medical Commission on whether the online education will be considered valid to practice medicine in India and getting provisional degrees. The students admitted to Chinese universities have been attending online lectures for the past two years without any clinical practice.

While the Centre and state governments are focusing on the issues faced by medical students returning from Ukraine, students who have returned from China due to pandemic are feeling neglected.

A New Delhi-based student from Anhui University, on the condition of anonymity, says, "For the last two years, we have been studying online, and haven't been able to take part in any practical sessions, which are necessary to obtain a medical degree. We have been asking our universities to call us back, but there has been no response. The Chinese universities have addressed the concerns of students from Singapore and Pakistan, but Indian students haven't received any response or assurance from China on our return."

The fifth-year student, who will be graduating in June this year, adds, "Due to pandemic, the university has agreed to award us degree after completing the course. But some universities are providing provisional degrees till the time the students don't complete their practicals."

Speaking about issues faced during online learning, Mumbai-based Rachita Kurmi, 21, a third-year medical student from Shandong University, says, "We want to go back to China and complete our education. Besides losing out on practicals, we don't even have any recorded video lectures because of the instability in teaching platforms as many of the Chinese apps such as WeChat and DingTalk were banned by India in the last two years. These were the apps where the notes and study materials were provided. Students are completely dependent on internet connections to excel in their studies."

Mental health concerns and support from family

"There is pressure from society. I have faced comments from my friends like ‘Ghar baithe baithe doctor ban raha hai (will you become a doctor sitting at home?). I answered them back saying even if I am studying online for two years, I have studied medicine for three years by attending lectures at the university. Such comments affect a lot," says the Delhi-based student.

Rachita, who too has attended one of the mental-health counselling sessions, adds: "I had come back for the winter vacation to India, but never returned to my college due to pandemic. Most of my belongings are still in my hostel room. I was suffering from depression in 2020 because I was worried about my education. I was contemplating other career options too. My family's support helped me come out of it."

Help from Maharashtra government

The students have been trying to reach out to various authorities in their own states and the Centre by meeting them and writing letters.
In Maharashtra, a team of students met the Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh on March 11 and Madhuri Kanitkar, Vice-Chancellor, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS), on March 15, to seek help for the students residing in the state and who are continuing their education from the Chinese universities in online mode.

The state government authorities agreed to help the students by conducting workshops with the help of medical professors to make up for the practical training. The authorities have asked the students to first collect the data of students residing in the state.

Speaking about the meeting at MUHS, Rachita says, "We (a group of student representatives) are preparing a list of students from Maharashtra. So far, we have collected information from over 150 students about the district they reside in and their study year. To provide us with practical knowledge, the authorities have agreed to impart practical training through workshops and seminars, which will be held with the help of various medical college deans from Maharashtra." The training will be held at affordable rates, which can be used as medical credits with regards to practical learning by students depending on university rules in China. These credits will help the students gain marks in practical exams, which have 50 per cent weightage.

The office of the Medical Education Minister told mid-day that they will publish corresponding study materials for students from China and Ukraine on the MUHS website from the first week of April. This will help students get references as per their syllabus. "While the study module of foreign universities is different from Indian universities, we contacted the foreign universities to get books and other reference materials. It will be provided free of cost to foreign medical students with MUHS university for this course," says the offical.