Kerala govt will take steps to ensure students returning from Ukraine can complete courses: Pinarayi Vijayan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday said his government will take all possible steps, after informing the Centre and National Medical Commission (NMC), for enabling Indian students coming from war-torn Ukraine to complete their courses in medicine and other subjects.

The chief minister also said the State Medical Council has been asked to allow provisional registration of students, returning from Ukraine, for completing their one-year internship or remaining course of study free of cost at affiliated medical colleges or hospitals attached to such institutions. Vijayan was responding to CPI(M) MLA CK Hareendran's notice, during the Kerala Assembly session, inviting the CM's attention to the plight of Malayali students who returned from Ukraine without being able to complete their education due to the ongoing war there and seeking his intervention to resolve their problems.

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Hareendran said steps need to be taken to ensure the students are able to complete their courses and also recover the certificates and other documents left behind in that country as they fled the war-torn nation. The CM said so far 3,379 Malayali students have been repatriated to Kerala with the help of the Centre and the NORKA Development Offices in Delhi and Mumbai. He further said the central government would have a major role in ensuring that the students who returned from Ukraine due to the war are able to continue and complete their courses as well as recover their certificates and other valuable documents.

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The CM said a special cell led by NORKA would be working on this with the health department and an amount of Rs 10 crore has been earmarked for the same in the budget for 2022-23. Further decisions on the education of medical students returning from Ukraine can be taken only on the recommendation of the National Medical Commission, which has guidelines for completing internships of medical students who return without completing their courses or internships due to unusual and compelling circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic or wars, he added.