Though born in India, Nagaraj does not have citizenship rights because of the refugee status of his parents. Fortunately for Nagaraj, Agaram Foundation (founded by film actor Suriya) intervened and ensured his admission to a private medical college under the management quota.
The foundation has taken up the onus of paying Nagaraj’s fee. “I approached the foundation asking them to sponsor my engineering education as my second choice. I knew that pursuing medical education in a private college will be impossible. But thanks to Agaram, I can now hope to become a doctor,” a relieved Nagaraj told DNA.
Agaram officials agreed that Nagaraj had applied for aid for pursuing engineering. “We have a stringent process of selecting beneficiaries, which includes a visit to their homes. On interacting with him, we got to know that his real aspiration was to become a doctor,” the officials said.
But there are scores of children like Nagaraj whose aspirations of professional education will remain unfulfilled despite scoring well. According to the Organisation for Eelam Refugees’ Rehabilitation (OfERR), there are nearly 20,000 school-going children among Sri Lankan refugees.
Ramanathan, a 24-year-old staying at the Trichy camp, has a sorry tale to tell. A class topper, he too wanted to pursue medicine and got admission in a private college in Salem in 2005. He was supported by his brother from Sri Lanka, but had to discontinue his studies after his brother died.
“My parents first came to India in 1986 and went back when they were told the ethnic conflict had ended. They were forced to return in 1990 and we have been staying at the Trichy camp since then. I completed my 12th in 2004 and joined a private medical college in Salem in 2005. But I had to discontinue it after my brother died in 2006. My mother returned to Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, there was a change in the college management and the new management demanded the full fee,” he lamented.
Ramanathan, who is now staying with his aged father at the Trichy camp, works in a provision store. He is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry.
OfERR director (advocacy) M Sakkariyas said every year his organisation pleads with the Centre to provide the refugee children admissions in professional courses. “We have so far not got a positive response from the Centre,” he said.
There is some good news though. The state recently announced that the refugee children could seek admission in colleges affiliated to Anna University through counselling process. The counselling is in August 11 and 12.
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