The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition on Thursday staged a walkout in the Kerala Assembly to protest the government’s negative attitude towards the worrisome outflow of students from the state to foreign countries and the huge social and economic impact it poses to the state.

The Opposition accused the government of adopting an ostrich-like policy towards pressing social, educational, economic, and political realities that constrained the youth to abandon their homeland and aging parents for low-grade jobs and substandard education in far-flung countries.

Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan, who gave notice to discuss the matter through an adjournment motion, said overseas student migration from the state, which was around 1.29 lakh in 2018, has touched 2.5 lakh in 2023, as per the Kerala Migration Survey. He accused successive Left governments of sacrificing the State’s economic interests on the altar of utopian ideological rigidity.

The Congress legislator lamented about the poor quality of education in the state, stating that only a little over 1% of the admissions in IITs were from Kerala. The success rate of students from Kerala in the NEET-UG entrance exam for medical courses was also on the decline, he pointed out.

However, Kuzhalnadan said many found to their dismay that there was no promised land. The high cost of living and education forced students to work weekends and extended hours in low-end jobs, pawn houses or borrow from financially hard-pressed parents to make ends meet.

Minister for Higher Education R Bindu in her reply disputed the statistics cited by Kuzhalnadan and said only around 35,000 to 40,000 students were migrating overseas from the state annually. She said that Kerala ranked among the first five start-up destinations in the world. She also claimed that Kerala’s colleges and universities are among the best in the country. “The state is transforming itself into a knowledge economy,” she claimed.

Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan said funds to the tune of Rs 2,000 to 3,000 crore were being ‘siphoned off’ from the state every year on account of student migration. He said families are forced to cough up Rs 35-40 lakh each to facilitate overseas admissions for their children.