- The Indian philosophical thoughts, spiritual discourses, religious beliefs, age-old traditions/cultures, and of course, wise advice emanating from diverse personalities have unequivocally advocated that guests visiting us should be treated with utmost respect. This virtuous advice has been imbibed in us right from our early years while we were growing up. We must have witnessed during those nascent years how any guests visiting us were extended due courtesy, respect, and treatment leaving no stone unturned in making sure that they felt like kings/queens. For that matter, even the casual visitors to homes were/are extended tremendous respect and courtesy. That’s our culture, you see.
PC: Education Week
- Since the time-tested practice continues to this day, every visitor to homes/offices/places of convenience/public places and in whatever form is made to feel much wanted in terms of pampering that at times might appear overwhelming. Likewise, visitors from other countries as well as students enrolled in India for studying should also be treated like any other guests by extending utmost respect and courtesy. Contrarily, what do we feel when Indian students are mistreated on foreign soil, in any way? The incidents are usually one-offs. We take solace from the fact that mistreatment is not systemic, and from a swift and rigorous application of the law. These are reassurances we too must offer to students that the country is hosting.
- As you are aware, an unpleasant incident took place when some of the foreign students were assaulted recently. Police must act against everyone involved in the night assault on some international students, at Gujarat University. Reports say that the assault took place on the university’s hostel premises, set off merely by some international students offering namaz, that too during the holy month of Ramzan. A student from Sri Lanka, one from Afghanistan, and another from Turkmenistan had to be admitted to a hospital. India’s Constitution guarantees freedom of religion to every citizen. When Indians go abroad to study and work, they count on similar freedom. Reciprocal tolerance is both an ethical and practical imperative, you see.
PC: Cognifit
- Note that rich countries have been becoming richer from the international students and workers they attract. The enrichment is economic and cultural, and also geopolitical. Foreigners’ campus experiences ultimately build up to enduring diplomatic benefits. Thus, recognizing its soft power shortfall on this front, China has been pouring big subsidies into attracting foreign students, who now total nearly half a million. Why, even the Indian government too is at the forefront of fronting the Indian educational system as an attractive proposition to foreign students? This is a number India hopes to achieve by 2047, from only around 50,000 right now. For this to fructify, the administration must ensure foreign students are not only treated with respect but at par with other students too.
