Assembly Big Fight | Why students flee Kerala? Lack of quality higher edu options or just a 'trend'

Thiruvananthapuram: The LDF government in Kerala on Monday, even if grudgingly, concurred with the UDF on Thursday that student migration from Kerala had increased. "It is not as severe as the Opposition makes it out to be," was the government sentiment. However, both sides vehemently disagreed in the Assembly on why this was happening. 

The UDF blamed it on the poor higher education sector. The government said it was part of a global trend that had nothing to do with higher education in Kerala. Higher education minister R Bindu reeled out certain achievements -- National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation status of various universities in Kerala and the crowd of Kerala colleges in the top bracket of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ratings -- to demonstrate that the quality of higher education in Kerala had only increased.

The issue was discussed as part of an adjournment motion moved by Congress's Muvattupuzha MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan seeking a discussion on what he termed the "glaring" student exodus that is facing Kerala. Kuzhalnadan's grim analysis was drawn from an official document, the recently released Kerala Migration Survey 2023.

Country's lowest migration
Minister Bindu argued that student migration, though part of a global trend, was the lowest in Kerala. She said there was a 31% increase in student migration in India after 2018, during the post COVID phase. But students from Kerala contributed the least to the national exodus, just 4%. She said that students from Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra formed the largest chunk of migrating students, 12% each. Close behind were students from Gujarat, Delhi and Tamil Nadu: 8% each. Even Karnataka (6%) sends more students to foreign countries than Kerala.

"At the most 35,000-40,000 students from Kerala migrate to foreign countries annually," Bindu said. She cited two reasons for the migration. One, the opportunity to earn even while studying. Two, huge visa relaxations made by countries with low populations to attract a young skilled workforce.

NAAC vs IIT performance
The minister even said that the migration could also be seen as a sign of the quality of higher education in Kerala. "Our students now have the backbone of good education to seek the best higher education in other parts of the world," she said.
Citing the exemplary NAAC accreditations secured by some of the major universities and colleges in Kerala, the minister said that Kerala was on the path of transforming into a knowledge hub that could attract even foreign students. 

Kuzhalnadan then read out figures that seemed to suggest the opposite. He said the share of Kerala students who had qualified for NEET had been declining. In 2021, it was 67%. In 2022, 64%. in 2023, 56%. He said the number of Kerala students who had cracked the IIT exams was just 1.08% of the total. In contrast, he said students from Rajasthan made up 15.82% of the winners. "When this is the reality, there is no point in harping about A+ and NAAC accreditations," Kuzhalnadan said.

Grouchy Marxians
According to him, poor quality of education in Kerala is further worsened by stunted economic growth. As an indicator of poor economic growth, the Congress MLA compared the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Kerala during the 2019-2024 period with the inflows into the growth sectors of its neighbours. 
If it is 978 million dollars to Kerala, it is 51 billion dollars to Karnataka and 11 billion dollars to Tamil Nadu. This is why he said the annual average salary of Rs 5.5 lakh in Kochi lagged far below the Rs 9.5 lakh in Bangalore or Rs 7.23 lakh in Hyderabad.

He said it was the "ideological stubbornness" of the CPM that had refused development an entry into Kerala. "What should have easily been Kerala's, thanks to our top quality natural and human resources, got diverted to neighbouring states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh," Kuzhalnadan said.

Further, quoting from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), he said Kerala had the highest urban unemployment in the country: 31.8%.  
"It would be surprising if students had not packed their bags and left Kerala," Kuzhalnadan said. 

Irony of caring for the aged
The Muvattupuzha MLA then gave an example of a middle class family in his constituency to show the extent of youth's desperation in Kerala. "The house had just the parents and the son was in the UK. They had a Bengali as caretaker," Kuzhalnadan said. "And you know what he is doing in the UK? He is working in a care home. After handing over the care of his parents to a Bengali, he had flown over to the UK where he is tending to the elderly there, washing and cleaning and providing them medicines," he said.

Minister Bindu was alert to the irony, but seemed to have missed Kuzhalnadan's point that the youth was a victim of Kerala's grim socio-economic and political reality. "The member's observation that not all students migrating outside are finding themselves in stable jobs point also to certain contradictions inherent in Kerala society. What he said throws light on certain social dogmas and peer pressure that influences the youth in Kerala," Bindu said.

The minister saw in this the misplaced pride of the Malayali. "He is not ready to take care of his aged parents but is willing to provide elderly care outside. It is true. Our students are forced to work in low-paid jobs in foreign countries," Bindu said.

Nonetheless, what the minister said next sounded like a contradiction. "It would, therefore, be hollow to state that our graduates are migrating after securing the best jobs outside, she said. Earlier, during the same speech, the minister had claimed that Kerala's higher education had emboldened students to seek the best foreign universities and jobs.