Many Unrecognized Centres Enrol Large Number Of Middle East Students

Pvt edu institutes raise eyebrows
Many Unrecognized Centres Enrol Large Number Of Middle East Students
Preetu Nair | TNN

Panaji: The Goa police is now planning to propose to the state government to bring educational institutions enrolling foreign students from the Middle East under the control of the education department.
Investigations have revealed that there are 11 institutes in Goa — six functioning in the capital city alone, which are not recognized by the government, nor affiliated to any university. Besides, there are also such institutes in Mapusa, Calangute and Margao. There are about 150 students from the Middle East studying at these institutes, which mainly cater to foreign students. Yemenese students top the list, followed by students from Sudan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
According to the police, these institutes run courses in business administration, computer science, office management courses and English.
While most of the institutes have a trade licence from a municipal council or corporation, in some cases the licence has expired and renewal is awaited, said the police.
“Not only is the attendance rate of these institutes very poor, but is even marked in advance in some cases,” said an official from the Intelligence Bureau (IB). Most of the institutes offer couses of either a three, six or nine months duration and charge anything between Rs 1000 to Rs 1500 per month per course, which the IB in Goa defines as ‘too less for foreign students’.
The grossly low tuition fees charged by these institutions has caught the attention of security agencies in the state, who have had the 11 institutes under the scanner for quite sometime — especially in the wake of the serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
Besides, the police is also planning to write to the Ministry of Home Affairs informing about the student visas being issued to foreign students who study in ‘private and unregistered’ institutes.
“Such institutes have cropped up in the last one year and this is perhaps the first instance of its kind where Middle East students obtain student visas to study in an educational institute not recognized by any authoritative body”, said a police official.
TOI had recently reported about ‘Fluency Academy’, which caters mostly to students from Yemen, and that the police were in the process of identifying other institutes that are not recognized and have foreign students.
Armed with details, the Goa police is planning to requesting the state authorities to ensure that all such institutes are registered with the education department and also the collector. The police also wants these institutes to submit a fortnightly report about the attendance of foreign students and their performance.
When contacted, SP (Special Branch) A V Deshpande refused to divulge information, but agreed that there is a need to keep track of foreign students who attend courses in private institutes in the state. “If we don’t act, either the students could be losers or a subversive element may enter the state on a student visa. We would definitely like to have a monitoring system in place,” added Deshpande.
At present however, there is no such mechanism. “We only verify the records and ensure that no extension is given to foreign students who study in institutions not affiliated to the Goa University or education department,” said DySP (Foreigners Registration Office) Rina Torcato.

August 12, 2008, The Times of India, Goa edition