Lasting KIIT lessons

It is up to the government to certify for Nepalis the safety of institutions of higher education abroad.

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.