With the 12th standard results of the New Delhi-based Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) out, the biggest challenge that awaits non-resident Indian (NRI) students and their parents is to seek admission to professional courses and the universities of their choice back home. The NRI tag has been the biggest disadvantage for Gulf-based students including those who scored the highest percentage in the CBSE 12th examination from international Indian community schools in Saudi Arabia. Jasmine Rahiman, the top-ranking student of the International Indian School, Dammam (IISD), wants to study either engineering in electronics and communication or pursue a course in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), but on a merit basis. She said she already appeared in the entrance examination conducted in Riyadh in April this year by CBSE-All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE). However, Jasmine – since she is the daughter of NRI parents – has two options (schemes): to enroll for a fee of 100,000 Indian rupees in the NIT, Suratkal in Karnataka, a southern Indian state or pay a whopping Rs800,000 for admission through the management quota reserved for NRI students. Despite Jasmine scoring 93.2 percent in the science stream, she still has to struggle to gain admission to the course of her choice merely because she does not want to pay the exorbitant annual tuition fees that private institutions in India are demanding. She said she would not want her parents to secure her admission by paying a huge capitation and annual tuition fees. She believed that it would be a waste of her parents hard-earned money if she had to get admission through the NRI quota. Huma Khan, who is from Uttar Pradesh and shared the first rank with Jasmine, wants to do medicine at Mualana Azad Medical College. Dr. Imran Ahmed, Huma's father, said his daughter has to sit a competitive examination conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and should rank among the top 50 candidates to secure a place in the medical college. If Huma does not score the required percentage, then she has the option of applying through the management quota reserved for NRI students and securing a seat only after paying a huge capitation and annual tuition fee, which could be around Rs300,000 to Rs500,000 and more depending on the type of college. Harish Mustafa, an NRI father, speaking of his past experience while seeking admission for his sons in the southern Indian state of Kerala, said students who score high percentages in the commerce stream could not compete in the open category with fellow resident Indian students back home. “The NRI students have only one option and that is the payment of an exorbitant capitation fee to secure a seat in the professional course,” he said. Private colleges have been acting as “vultures” ready to fleece NRI students by offering them seats in professional courses for unjustifiably large capitation fees. The capitation fees demanded by professional colleges in Hyderabad and other rural areas in Andhra Pradesh ranged between Rs600,000 for a seat in colleges that offer courses in Bachelor of Pharmacy to Rs900,000 and more for a seat in colleges of Bachelor of Dentistry. “Parents have to bargain in a literal sense for a seat in the college of medicine. The seats are sold like a commodity; the more you pay, the more your children are likely to get admission,” said Amjad Hussain, a disgruntled father. The capitation fee for a medicine seat could range between Rs1.5 million and above, he said, adding that the capitation fee would be more if the college was located within the city limits. A number of students left Saudi Arabia well ahead of the CBSE results, which were declared on Friday. However, a number of others are still undecided. Even if their children have scored marks in distinction, parents simply cannot afford the huge capitation fee. The only option left for their children will be to pursue non-professional three
