Dhaka: Bangladesh must adopt a zero-tolerance approach towards violence against foreign students backed by credible prosecution and not hollow assurances, a report highlighted Wednesday, urging local universities to move beyond imposing curfews and stand up for their students outside campus gates.
“There are many ways a country can lose its moral standing. One of the quietest and most corrosive is when students begin to fear walking outside their hostels because of the passport they carry. Bangladesh today is drifting dangerously close to that line,” a report in Eurasia Review highlighted.
Citing a recent interview by an international media outlet with Karim, a pseudonym, of an Indian medical student in Dhaka, the report noted that he locks himself in his hostel room every evening due to fear, not because of exams or exhaustion.
“He listens before opening his door. He avoids markets. He hides his accent. His education, paid for by his father’s life savings, has become a daily exercise in vigilance. What was once a second home now feels, in his own words, like a jail,” it added.
According to the report, this is not an isolated case, as over 9,000 Indian medical students are currently enrolled in Bangladesh, driven not by adventure but by affordability.
“India produces ambition faster than seats. Over two million applicants chase fewer than 60,000 government medical places each year. Private colleges exist, but at costs that verge on extortion. Bangladesh, by contrast, offers medical degrees at roughly half the price. For thousands of middle-class Indian families, it is not a preference but a necessity,” it mentioned.
“For years, this arrangement worked. Indian students blended into Dhaka’s urban sprawl, studied alongside Bangladeshi peers, and contributed quietly to the country’s academic economy. Politics remained background noise. That bargain has now collapsed,” it further stated.
The report stressed that since the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, attacks on religious minorities, particularly Hindus, have reportedly increased, deepening anxiety.
“Dhaka insists these are politically motivated, not communal. That distinction offers little comfort to a student whose examiner’s tone hardens the moment his identity becomes clear. In politics, intent matters less than effect,” it noted.
The issue, the report said, extends beyond bilateral relations, threatening to turn education into collateral damage in South Asia.
“When students are treated as proxies for geopolitical anger, everyone loses: host countries, sending countries, and the fragile idea that learning can transcend politics,” it asserted.
