A creative suggestion to improve safety of Indian students in Australia

This is the suggestion I send today to the High Commission of India in Australia as a response to the recent violent attacks on Indian students.
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To

Mrs. Sujatha Singh
High Commissioner of India
Canberra, Australia

Sub: A creative suggestion to improve safety of Indian students in Australia - Student Settlement Services by Australian Universities.

Madam,

I represent prestigious Rajagiri group of educational institutions Kochi, Kerala, India in Australia and heads it Australian operations as the Director of “Rajagiri Australia” (www.rajagiri.com.au). Rajagiri Australia has initiated twinning programs between Rajagiri, Kochi and major Australian universities and also serves as student agent for those Australian universities in India and Australia. In the wake the recent attacks on Indian students in Australia, I got the following suggestions to make to improve safety of Indian students in Australia.

1. Insist Australian Universities to provide Student Settlement and safety-net service.

The major problem of students coming to Australia is that they don’t get any other help from universities than the CoE (Confirmation of Enrolment) even after paying heavy fees. They just arrive in airport and don’t know where to go, where to settle and practically no contacts/references. In such desperation, they end up in unsafe suburbs/homes and pushed to take unsafe works and work habits, which eventually make them vulnerable targets.

The solution is to give them hospitality, settlement and reference services as they arrive to Australia. In theory the universities claim that they got these services. But in practice they just don’t have this for many reasons, like – they don’t set apart enough funds and plans for these services, they don’t have the expertise in settlement services, they simply cannot give reference services.

Agencies those have got expertise in these areas can easily provide these services. “Rajagiri Australia” is experimenting this kind of services to students coming through us in our own way. That is to provide students with airport pickup, shared accommodation facilities, availability of ongoing support through an office (presently our Melbourne office) and reference services (provide a network of people who can contact and trust).

Being a student myself, I have gone through all the troubles of student life in Australia. That is why I initiated this service. We can do it because we don’t have much monetary considerations as we are Catholic priests’ group and plan to set apart a big chunk of commission amount we get from Aus Universities(in recruiting students as an agent) to these services. But in general (for all other agencies), this is not possible. Because the commission amount is meant only for recruitment services and not enough/not meant for other additional services.

So, the suggestion is to encourage universities to provide these settlement services – for their students - which include airport pickup, accommodation services, agent office support, reference services - though their “authorized agents”. Universities should set apart a fixed amount (say 5% of first year fee) towards these services on the top of the commission to those agents. This will enable those agents to provide the above services to students.


2. Rate Australian universities and Settlement agencies to enforce higher safely for Indian students.

The Indian government should introduce separate rating/accreditation system for Australian universities and the proposed student settlement agents. Universities who provide this “Settlement services” should be given higher safely ratings by India government. It will provide better advice to prospective students to Australia. India government also shall accredit “Settlement” agencies after scrutiny.

This will give ample impetus to Australian Universities to adopt Settlement services as part of their student recruitment process and their Settlement agencies to perform well to give effective services to their student customers.

I live in Canberra. I will be very happy to give any further inputs regarding this suggestion by coming to your office. Please feel free to contact me.

With regards,

Fr Jaison Paul Mulerikkal CMI
RAJAGIRI AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
ABN: 85 128 322 761
Web: www.rajagiri.com.au

Response to Irish Church Priest Sex Scandal Report

I was told by a young Indian Catholic youth lives in Europe, how she was shaken by the Irish Church Priest Sex Scandal Report. This was my reply:

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Its there. Its a cultural thing. That's what I think. I haven't heard of such things in such proportions in Catholic church in India or some other Asian countries. There are always exceptions, but not like this. The West liberalized too much. Families gone. The effects resonate in Church as well. If there are no good families in India, the same would happen in India too, I guess.

I dont know whether we can relate these incidents to celibacy of priests. If we can relate, then these things should not happen in families. But that's not the case, as we come to know. Priest sex abuse scandals are only tip of an iceberg. This was shared by a scholar works in this area.

But this exercise is good for Church. We have to purify first before we preach. That's good. So I accept it. I am not panicked.

An Amazingly Uplifting Story of Kamran Khan

Story appeared in "The Age". About the latest Twenty20 sensation - Kamran Khan.

Read here

Or here it is:

From slumdog to cricketing hero
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NOT many in cricket-crazy India had heard of Kamran Khan when Shane Warne tossed the ball to the 18-year-old fast bowler during the final moments of an Indian Premier League match in Cape Town last week.

The batting side needed seven runs to win, and Saurav Ganguly was at the crease. Warne was clearly taking a huge gamble by entrusting a rookie seamer with the ball. But in just two overs Khan, whose family is so poor that he slept on railway platforms when he travelled as he could not afford even cheap hotels, not only ensured victory for the Rajasthan Royals but also became India's latest cricketing hero.

Khan conceded just six runs in the final over against Kolkota thanks to Warne in the field preventing what would have been a winning second run with the final delivery.

With scores tied, a Super Over was required to settle the result. Warne again turned to Khan and the rookie left-arm slinger contained the Knight Riders batsmen to ensure victory.

A drop-out from a village school, the keen-faced left-arm quick barely comprehends English.

He said Warne "speaks English so fast" he has difficulty grasping his captain's instructions. When Warne handed him the ball and gave him a pep talk in the match against the Knight Riders, one of the words Khan could decipher was "pressure". Warne was telling him to relax and bowl normally.

Khan told the Indian Express later: "I have seen several major setbacks in my life. I am used to pressure."

Khan's father was a taxi driver in Nadwa Sarai village in the Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh state. But a lung ailment kept him mostly at home, and Khan's mother took to rolling bidis (the poor Indian's cigarette) to supplement the family's meagre income. His father died five years ago, followed three years later by his mother.

"We didn't have the money for proper medical treatment for our parents," said Khan's older brother Shamshad Khan. "Father would get angry and beat Kamran if he skipped school to play cricket. He wanted Kamran to join the army so he could earn something."

But Khan was so obsessed with cricket he even chiselled his first bat himself.

"Much later, when the villagers got together and bought him a proper bat, he was very happy," his brother said.

Khan's first break came when a cricket coach from a neighbouring village took him to Mumbai two years ago. In the big city Khan began playing with a proper cricket ball for the first time, and not with the cheap tennis balls used in the village.

"He struggled really hard," said the coach, Naushad Khan, who took him into his house. "He is strong and very determined. Back home, he would play in district cricket tournaments eating just tea and biscuits, since he didn't have money to buy food."

But as with the hero of the film Slumdog Millionaire, there was to be a fairytale twist to Khan's life. Rajasthan Royals' director of coaching, Darren Berry, spotted the teenager at a Twenty20 tournament in Mumbai two months ago, and signed him for £16,000 ($A33,000). Though not tall or very well-built, Khan bowls at more than 140km/h. And he can swing the bat.

"We have one young player who's going to be very interesting," the Royals' captain predicted.

"We're tossing up now what his nickname is going to be, Wild Thing or Tornado — something like that."

But Khan's initial rueful response was that had the money come earlier, he could have paid for the treatment his mother needed.