'Being alive is more important': Ukraine returnees happy with KCR's move

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday announced that the state will fund the education of all the 740 students from Telangana who returned from Ukraine. He directed the chief secretary to write to the Centre seeking permission to allow the students to continue their studies in the state.

After the bombings, the long journey home, and the uncertainties over their future, the students now feel a little relaxed after hearing KCR's announcement.

"I don't want to go back. I don't want to be stuck there again," said Ram Naik from Warangal who is a third-year medical student in Kyiv. He said he didn't think about his future when he was in Ukraine. When life itself was a question mark, what future? he asked. But when he reached India, concerns like Kyiv being entirely taken over by Russia, online classes, etc., worried him.

Ram is not worried about the different syllabus that he will have to follow when continuing his medical education in Telangana. In fact, he says, "I don't mind even if we have to start from the first or second year because the war has taught us that being alive is more important." Ram is excited about KCR's announcement and is hopeful that the Centre will do the needful.

Sravani, a third-year medical student at Bogomolets National Medical University, went to Ukraine in 2019 despite securing a seat in Mallareddy Medical College as it was very expensive. "I want to go back to Ukraine, but we won't be able to, right? I am happy to join somewhere here rather than lose many years of effort," she said.

Rohit, another Ukraine returnee, is also happy if the government lets him study here.