African students favour India over Europe and US

NEW DELHI - Ahmed Hussain, who hails from Sudan, feels completely at home as he pursues English at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here. He is all praise for his course and says, “Ours is a sweet and small batch.”

“We hang out a lot on the JNU campus, which is vast and really beautiful in the evenings. We chat about many different things and now I am assimilated,” said Hussain, who is here on an Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) scholarship.

It is impossible to ignore the presence of African students on Indian campuses - there are over 1,500 African students in the country on government funded programmes alone. Quality education, working parents in India, scholarships, and friendly people are what attracts them to the Indian education system.

“India is academically strong along with being economical which is not the case with the US and EU. In India, English is a spoken second language whereas for us it is a foreign language. Therefore, the teachers here have a better understanding and command over the language,” said Hussain.

Hussain is here with hopes and dreams. He has a lot to achieve and is hoping his masters degree will help him support his family back home.

“My younger brother dropped out of school and began working to pay for my studies. He sacrificed his future for me. So now it is my turn to do something for them and I am grateful to ICCR for the scholarship awarded to me,” Hussain told IANS.

ICCR awards 1,804 such scholarships to international students every year as an initiative to foster and strengthen cultural relations and mutual understanding between India and other nations.

For 22-year-old Jerry Bidi who arrived in India from Congo in 2006 along with his embassy-employed parents, India is the place to be. He is a French student at JNU after completing an honours degree in commerce from Delhi University.

Being a native French speaker, although he is disappointed at the teaching quality, he is gung-ho about India.

Bidi told IANS: “I am attending the classes just to obtain a diploma in French. The teacher cannot speak French well. But India is great. People are good and I like living here more than in Congo. I have been here long enough to know that.

“I have made good friends here and this feels like home.”

For John Christian, who is from Windchoek, Namibia, and is pursuing a masters in economics at JNU, it is travelling and sports that fascinate him the most about India.

“I like the cultural versatility here and that is unique to India. I have travelled a lot in and around Delhi and down south to Goa. It is fun and also great learning experience.”

Christian enjoys playing football. “We have a team and we are people from all over the world and that adds to the fun of the game,” he said.

The flagship Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme brings dozens of Africans to India each year, and over 10,000 students are attending private institutes across the country.

“India is economically a very viable country with regard to the fee structure and also the living expense is less compared to Europe or the US and the quality of education and facilities are no less than what you will get in any developed country.

“Besides, we have the Commonwealth connection which again helps and ours is a free society and one can move around freely without being questioned. Above all we are an English speaking country,” said professor Ajay Kumar Dubey, chairperson, Centre for African Studies, JNU.

(Lakshmi Krishnakumar can be contacted at laxmihere@gmail.com)