Apropos of the report (Best cities for students, THT, February 7, Page 16”), I fear the standard of education in the listed cities may not be very useful for local application in the country.

My apprehension is based on close observation. What would people with a degree from MIT do in the federal democratic Republic in Nepal? Foreign education is a good recipe for depression and frustration save for the government servants or those who go on scholarship or doles.

For really good students like someone who could not find water in the country but tracked it on Mars as soon as he went to the US, a foreign degree in the country will be a big burden. In Nepal, the young scientist would have spent the rest of his life looking for water and a sustainable job. Most of our earlier doctors were trained in places like Darbhanga in India, not in the US or UK or Australia.

Of course, there are medical students who study in Nepal now and migrate to other countries as skilled doctors. My point is unless someone wants a foreign degree to hang it up in the living room, or to earn a promotion in the civil service, it will not be of much use in the local job market nor would it recover even their investment for those going on self-finance. An MBA from Canada was once told by his boss “if you were that qualified we would be in reverse position”.

The boss, an undergraduate from India, told the MBA within my hearing “don’t think. Just do what I tell you to do.” The students, their parents, the government, the foreign schools and the embassies must remember, which I am sure they all do, after the local students spend four years of their prime life in Moscow, Perth, Osaka, New York, New Delhi, they will be completely lost when they return to Nepal, an odd man out. It takes a lot of time and great efforts to become a true Nepali again, a sycophant, a yes- man, a job dodger etc.

Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

Wealth

The plunge at Wall Street has made the news for all the good and bad reasons. In the competitive world, the markets are volatile today, often creating the panic among the investors and the business houses. Populations are growing like anything and the consumption level is on the rise on the other side. Despite the advantages of e-world and in spite of many Internet-based activities, the people are in need of more money and higher levels of consumption. And the end result is that panic often grips somewhere in the world, creating doubts about the future, money and business.

To raise the confidence level, the breaking point should be fixed first and foremost. Nowadays, the international community is brimming with great knowledge and technology. It’s time to increase the resources of wealth. After all, people want money to live and thrive. The available technology should be used to turn the huge tracts of barren land into fertile one.

P Senthil Saravana Durai, Mumbai