Former Indian Ambassador urges students to think twice before studying in Canada

In a recent statement, former Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Verma urged Indian families to carefully consider their decisions before sending their children to study in Canada.

Verma, recently recalled amid a bitter diplomatic row between the two countries over the 2023 killing of a Canadian national labeled by India as a Khalistani terrorist, shared a heartfelt warning based on alarming trends he observed during his tenure.

He said he would give this advice to parents even if relations between the two countries were good.

Sanjay Verma said several Indian students in Canada are facing grim realities including poor college standards, minimal job prospects and rising mental health issues, forcing some to take extreme measures.

“At one point during my tenure, at least two student corpses were being sent to India in body bags a week,” he told PTI in an interview, appearing on camera for the first time since he was recalled.

Asked if parents should think twice about sending them to Canada, he replied: “Absolutely.”

EXPENSIVE EDUCATION, BAD RESULTS

Verma noted that many students enroll in lesser-known institutions, paying four times the local tuition fee but receiving little in return.

Due to unreliable agents, some students end up in colleges that only offer weekly classes, limiting their skills and career opportunities.

“The reality there is not very encouraging,” Verma noted, as graduates often resort to low-paying jobs, such as driving taxis or selling street food, far from the career they were preparing for.

Instead of returning home after difficulties in Canada, many students resort to suicide.

“They went there to dream about the future and came back in body bags,” he said in an interview.

REALITY CHECK FOR FAMILIES

The recalled diplomat stressed that families should be careful when choosing universities, since many parents sell real estate or take out loans to afford their child’s education abroad.

He advises parents to check the reliability of institutions and student living conditions before making an expensive and sometimes irreversible decision.

“And once they go there, they get stuck. Because the parents of many of them sold their lands, other property and property… they took out loans. Now that boy or girl who went to study cannot think of returning because there was nothing to return to,” he said, which has led to suicides.

He noted that over the past 18 months, he has received feedback from many students who have videotaped their problems and posted them on YouTube.

(With PTI inputs)