Lockdown affects Nepali students planning to go abroad

A large number of Nepali students apply each year to pursue their higher education abroad. However, due to the suspension of visa services and travel limitations as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak since 2020, there has been a halt in students’ plans to study abroad.

Aayushna Shrestha, who recently landed in Australia after applying for a visa for 2 years says, “I completed my IELTS in 2019 and there was an intake for Australia in March and April. After that I sent SOP (standard operating procedure) to a college and was waiting for a CoE (center of excellence) offer letter, right then lockdown took place.” She further adds, "I got a call from India for an interview after one week of lockdown. I passed the interview but they asked me to take an extra class for English. I also had to make an NOC (no objection certificate) at that time”.

But then Nepal went through an 8 month lockdown. When the lockdown was over, she got an offer letter and started to apply to college. Right when she got her NOC, sadly the lockdown happened again. After a few months, the lockdown was over and she had to pay her fees for CoE. As it is said that an education loan is better, she took the loan. But when she got the CoE, again there was a lockdown for almost 5 months.

“It was really hard for us students who applied to study abroad. Friends whom I completed my higher secondary all joined bachelors, but I on the other hand had to lose two years”, she explains.

Shrestha was in dilemma whether she should join classes in Nepal or wait to open the border. But she decided to wait. She also had to pay interest on her student loan due to a lockdown.

“It was really frustrating and I really lost my hope when I saw my friends reaching their fourth semester. I started taking driving and Barista classes. I even started doing a job in a cafe”, she adds.

Shrestha says, “My visa finally came in June 2021 but I couldn’t go to Australia because the border was not open yet. I almost had to hold my visa for 5-6 months and then finally came to Australia.”

Although Shrestha reached Australia, their interstate borders were not open. Therefore even though her destiny was Brisbane, she had to go to Sydney first and stayed in quarantine for 14 days.

Similarly, Aaroj Tamang who applied for London in 2020, got stuck in Nepal for two years. His mother Ranjita Tamang says, “It’s been two years since my son applied for his bachelors in London but couldn’t go due to the closed border. We are paying his college fees and he is currently taking online classes living here in Nepal.”

“Whenever we feel like everything is going to be alright, and the border will open soon, right then a new wave of the virus hits and shatters our hope. We really don’t know when our son will be able to go to London for his studies”, she adds.

Another student, Tithi Jha says, “I applied for my further study in 2021 in India. I already have my admission and currently we are having online classes, including our seniors. We are going through a lot of problems as we can’t discuss with our teachers like we do in physical classes.”

“We can’t even discuss it with our friends in online classes, as we do not know each other properly. Being an international student, the only advantage of having online classes is that I don’t have to stay in a hostel. If I stayed in a hostel I might be going through many other problems”, she adds.