On 4 March, students who took admissions in the colleges of Canada, that shut in January, protested in Chandigarh.
(Image altered by The Quint/Kamran Akhtar)
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In January this year, three Canadian Colleges – Collège de comptabilité et de secrétariat du Québec, College de I’Estrie, and M College in Montreal City, declared itself bankrupt, and then it was abruptly shut. Around 2,000 Indian students had taken admissions at these colleges.
I am also one of them.
There were over 1,100 students who were attending the physical classes from Canada, while a little over 600 students were attending online classes from India.
On 4 March, we carried out a protest march in Chandigarh demanding justice for the students who attended online classes at these colleges.
Students protest in Chandigarh
In the last two years, many students were not issued visas but they were given Visa Approval in Principle (AIP), which allowed them to take admissions in these colleges and continue with the online classes.
Last year, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) rejected several visa applications because of which we had to drop out of college and apply for a refund.
In January 2020, Gaganpreet took admission at Montreal's M College in Business Management course
Now since the college has gone bankrupt, we don't know if we are going to get the refund or not. Reports in the local media suggest that we might get some partial refund, but not sure by how much.
Simranpreet Kaur from Chandigarh took admission at Montreal's M College
Through media reports, we are also hearing that the Montreal court, where the case is being heard, has found some potential buyers and the classes for the students, who have been attending the college physically, could resume around mid-March.
But for the students like me, who couldn't make it to Canada to attend physical classes, there is no clarity.
Two years of our lives, two years of interest that we have paid over the loan, two years of our career, have all gone down the drain.
The case is being heard in the Montreal Court, but each passing day, our hopes for justice are dying.
Diksha was studying in Early Childhood Education course from the Canadian College
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