5,000 Maldivian students studying here by year end: Maldives Envoy to Sri Lanka
View(s):Maldivian students studying in Sri Lanka will reach 5,000 by year end says Maldives Ambassador to Sri Lanka Mohamed Hussain Shareef.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Mr Shareef said that, currently, 4,000 Maldivians students are studying in Sri Lanka and this number had remained static since 2013.
“Less students are going to India. The second highest diaspora destination for Maldivians was India, but now its harder for the Maldivians to get visas to India,” said Mr Shareef.
According to him, the sudden increase is due to many families living in India, shifting to Sri Lanka over the past 2 months, as a result of the difficulties in getting visas to India.
“It’s been very stable since 2013. But this year, we think it’s going to change. We have seen that trend already in the first 4 months” the Envoy stated.