Thousands of Indian students head abroad every year to pursue their dreams and higher studies. Except this year, an already expensive process might have been put out of reach for many young students thanks to quarantine rules for incoming Indians. 27-year-old Megha Sharma, a resident of Delhi's Kanhaiya Nagar, is one such student. She is among the thousands of Indian students heading abroad for higher studies.
But the on-going pandemic has not only left her worried, but additional quarantine protocols in the UK have eaten up her savings, and those of her father.
Megha Sharma said, "I remember working 14 hrs a day because I didn't want to put a lot of burden on my parents that's when I decided to do 2 jobs.”
The Sharmas say that they are an Indian middle-class family - not well equipped financially. For Manoj Sharma, sending his daughter abroad for higher studies was beyond his reach. He adds,
"We applied for loans in 10 places, we didn't get education loan. We finally put our house on mortgage and she also earned some money through tuitions.”
Mother of Megha, Renu Sharma added,
"I used to take tuitions for as less as Rs 100 at one point in order to support my children in small ways.”
There are thousands of students like Megha, who are heading to the UK, and elsewhere and have to pay exorbitant amounts to quarantine before they can join college. It is through NDTV's campaign "Unlock Education" in association Sanmat, that Megha finally saw light at the end of the tunnel.
Sharing her experience, Megha Sharma added,
"I saw this debate on NDTV, it was an eye opener as 'vaccine racism' was not a very common word earlier. When NDTV told we are helping students, I filled the form and got selected. NDTV and Sanmat have really helped me a lot, they will be paying for my finances in coming time and that's a big help.”
Manoj Sharma, father of Megha added, "The campaign is a huge deal because when a girl studies, an entire society is educated."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a press release)
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