'Almost half of them Indians.'
In a shocking report published in Australia’s reputed daily The Age that could not have come at a worse time for the USD 15.5-billion-dollar Australian education industry, reveals that the Australian government has concealed the details of deaths of over 50 foreign students last year.
This came in the light of the state and territory coroners under the Australian National Coroners Information System refused to entertain an application by the daily to obtain data on the deaths of overseas students in the year till November 2008.
The investigation carried out by The Age puts the death toll to 54, higher than the 51 admitted by the Government in the Australian Parliament in February this year under questioning from the Opposition.
What is more shocking is that among the dead, nearly half were Indian students despite Indians constituting just 20 per cent of the overall foreign students studying in Australia.
National Union of Students president David Barrow said; "The time has come for a full-scale inquiry. Australian society and government needs to see all the facts", expressing his views that the Australia would face a loss of billions of dollars should it lose the confidence of foreigners aspiring to study in Australia.
Apart from seeing what steps the Australian government is doing to protect overseas students studying in the country, India seeks clear diplomatic actions for protecting its citizens studying in Australia from the Indian Government and answers questions about why the death ratio is so skewed against Indians.