Unable to survive, UK students want to return

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Over thousand students from Kerala, who have been stranded in the UK, seek immediate help from the country for evacuation.
Along with Keralites students, hundreds of students from other states are also stranded in the UK and they have approached the Indian embassy with pleas to arrange evacuation flight to India.
After Covid-19 cases were reported in the UK and lockdown imposed in the country, many of the students who were engaged in part-time jobs such as waiters, warehouse workers and care home workers lost their jobs.Some students working in online platform are trying to survive the crisis with meagre earnings.
According to Aron Samuel Georgekutty, a native of Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram, who is pursuing a course in artificial intelligence and robotics at University of Hertfordshire, East London, many students are struggling as there are no jobs available because of the crisis.
“There are around 1,000 students from Kerala studying at Hertfordshire University and are not able to go home after flight services were cancelled. The University told the students can stay back here, so many did not think about leaving. Later, the situation got worse. Funding from the government is available for students who are in need, but we were told that it is not provided to international students. Now as the classes and exams are all held online, we can return to Kerala and study there,” said Aron.
A native of Kottayam, Jijo Winny, who is pursing Masters in Cyber Security at Hertfordshire University said the students did not expect the situation to get this worse in the UK, as only a few cases were reported initially.
According to a native of Ernakulam and another student of the university, the situation is unpredictable in the UK as cases are increasing rapidly. He works as freelance developer and designer. “Our income source is closed and we are living on a budget. I had got work to design for events and these got cancelled. I would like to stay back, if I receive some support,” said Sanjay.
The situation is such that there are students who have to depend on community refrigerators run by the university, where people donate food.