LAHORE: Thousands of Pakistani students enrolled in various universities of China have requested the ambassador of the neighbouring country to allow them to go back to resume their studies.

The students who had to return home due to coronavirus have now written a letter to China’s Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong stating that 7,000 Pakistani students currently enrolled in Chinese universities have not been able to return to China to continue their studies. They said they would follow the instructions of their Chinese universities in every possible way.

“We conducted four online semesters, despite many genuine issues like the internet, time difference and unavailability of laboratories and in tough situations we were standing with China.”

They said they had been getting online education for the last 18 months and most of them were PhD and MBBS students and lab work was an important asset for proper experimentation and without lab work, it was difficult for them to carry out smooth research work.

They said following the instructions of the Pakistan government, most of the students had been vaccinated with Chinese vaccines and got their vaccination certificates. “We have been filling out the forms directed by our respective Chinese universities to maintain our daily health record.”

They said they were taking all the safety precautions and requested the authorities to do arrangements for their return to China. “We are facing educational loss, financial loss and top of this our career is at stake because institutions will not recognize our online degrees.”

They said they would bear quarantine fee and also follow all the SOPs. They said a number of students were visiting their home for winter holidays and unaware that the pandemic would restrict their return.

Meanwhile, PML-N parliamentarians have also written a letter to the Chinese ambassador to solve the issue of these students. They said the students could not continue online education because they were facing internet and electricity issues here in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2021