Pune campus watch: Students continue to cough up semester fees to avoid being marked absent by Ukraine universities

Like Dahale, scores of other Indian students, who have returned from Ukrainian medical universities and are attending online classes amidst an uncertainty over their future, had to pay the full semester fees last week after being threatened with absenteeism.

Asawari Kale, a second-year medical student from Ukraine, who hails from Vaibhavwadi taluka of Sindhudurg district, said, “Absenteeism is not taken lightly by Ukrainian universities unlike Indian universities. We have a system of 100 per cent attendance and if we miss any lecture, we have to pay a fine and attend it. Besides, we have daily viva exams which are based on the lecture. A few days ago, they stopped students from attending lectures for not paying the fees. Later, they allowed us but said we were being marked absent and even if we gave viva tests, marks were not given. We would have to give extra time to get it cleared again. Some of us are giving pending tests from last semester, plus 8-9 hours of classes every day. Almost everyone has paid the fees to avoid being marked absent.”

While hostel fees are not being collected from the students, the tuition fees are being collected in full, despite requests from the students for concessions.

“I had emailed the university where I am enrolled for a concession since the classes are being held online. Also, we incurred a heavy expense while returning to India and our tickets too were cancelled but not refunded. But the university didn’t reply and since we were being marked absent, we had no choice but to clear dues,” he said.

Some students also said that while on one hand they are paying the fees in full, uncertainty still surrounds their future as the war continues to rage and the universities have no clarity about the future.

Dipak Kakade, a resident of Kinwat taluka in Nanded district, who had attended just one class at a Ukranian university before the war broke out, said confusing details were being given out.

“Even I had not cleared the fees because we were waiting for clarity, either from the Indian government or the university. But neither is saying anything concrete. The AICTE said they can offer admission in non-medical universities; do they think we didn’t have that option before going abroad to pursue MBBS? The Indian government is not taking any concrete decision to admit us into MBBS courses here. Two days ago, we were informed on WhatsApp by a university representative that it might open in August-September after the break. But I am confused since there is no official communication. Since currently that is our only option, we had to clear the semester fees,” he said.

His distant cousin Santosh Yadav, a second-year student at the same medical university, said, “I was told by the teachers that there is less likelihood for offline classes at least for another six months or even this year. For second year students, our fees were paid in October but for first year students, whose semester began in March, they had been given a deadline of April first week to clear the fees. Students cannot afford absenteeism there, so once you start being marked absent, students have to clear the fees.”