The tragic death of Prakriti Lamsal on February 16 at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Odisha, India and the horrific events that followed have shaken Nepal. Lamsal, a 20-year-old third-year Nepali student, allegedly committed suicide after her ex-boyfriend continuously harassed her. While the students staged a peaceful protest demanding justice for Lamsal, the university ordered them to vacate the hostels instead of pacifying them. Since then, a series of events involving diplomatic efforts between the two governments have prompted KIIT to reverse its decision to evict Nepali students. Though two weeks have passed since the incident and university officials insist that things have returned to normal, students and their guardians remain deeply traumatised, while Nepalis at large continue to question the safety of students abroad.

The incident has highlighted the overlooked reality of Nepali students’ poor conditions in universities abroad. Our nation has struggled to build trust on our higher education. As a result, every year, the country witnesses a mass exodus of students aspiring to pursue higher education in countries like India, the US and Australia. In the current fiscal year, 6,6000 students have obtained NOCs in eight months, with 4,373 specifically for India. So it is the government's duty to ensure the safety of young people traveling abroad for their education. Yet, such incidents bring to light its failure and spark concerns about the Ministry of Education’s irresponsible handling of NOCs, endangering the future of many Nepalis.

Glaringly visible in the videos of KIIT that have circulated on the internet was the discrimination and insult of Nepali students. One particular video shows university staff shouting at the distressed Nepali students that the university’s founder fed and housed 40,000 people, and the university budget is bigger than the budget of their country. Although this is shocking in a country where Nepalis make up the largest share of international students, there are deeper ingrained issues of microaggression and stereotypes that Nepali students have to encounter every day.

Amid all the events, the importance of students’ mental health and the issue of intimate partner violence have been overlooked. Lamsal’s death could perhaps have been avoided had the university taken the complaints against the alleged perpetrator, who reportedly made obscene videos of her and repeatedly blackmailed her. What’s more, the university even stated that the incident could be linked to a romantic relationship. However, her peers firmly rejected that, and pointed to the broader issue of harassment and institutional negligence. Such failure of institutions to understand students’ mental well-being is common in our region, where educational institutes still believe they can exert authoritative power and suppress young people. Instead of helping students, they are always blamed and their demands dismissed.

Now that KIIT is focused on damage control with the release of apologies and has announced a special scholarship for Nepali students in memory of Lamsal, some students are returning to the university, whereas others still fear to go back. Purbanchal University and Tribhuvan University’s decision to take in Nepali students displaced by harassment at KIIT is positive and timely. The government, before issuing NOCs, needs to learn from this incident and check if the education institutions the students are going to are safe. In the long run, investing more in our educational institutions is the only option so that fewer students have to leave the country in search of decent higher education.