London: More than 200 foreign students, including several Indian students, have signed a letter to the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in which compulsory English language examination took place six years ago. He has been accused of cheating. In this letter handed over to Johnson in Downing Street on Thursday, these students have pleaded for justice from him.
Around 34,000 international students are believed to have been affected in this case and are related to the ‘English for International Dialogue (TOEIC) which is mandatory in some students’ visa cases. Most of the students trapped in this case are Indians and they consistently say that they are innocent. These students are demanding from the government that they be given a chance to prove their innocence.
“We are innocent but our visa was denied or revoked and the government did not give us any chance to defend ourselves,” the letter reads. Our future was destroyed and we were left to fight a one-year legal battle that cost each of us thousands of pounds. “
The letter addressed to Johnson reads, “We are writing this letter to you because it is within your jurisdiction to correct this wrong so that our detention, deportation, and humiliation can be ended.” Allow us to prove our innocence by establishing an independent and transparent scheme through which we can get our cases reviewed. “
The group has been supported in its struggle by many MPs, including ‘Migrant Voices’ activists and Labor Party MP Stephen Timms. The group, in a letter to the Prime Minister of Britain this week, also tried to highlight how their difficulties were compounded during the corono virus epidemic. The issue dates back to February 2014, when the BBC’s Panorama investigation uncovered evidence of organized fraud at two English-language examination centers run by the Educational Testing Service (ETS).
