The latest data from the All-India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report 2021-22 shows that the migration of students from Panjab to countries such as Canada and Australia has started emptying the state’s colleges and universities. According to the AISHE report, total enrollment in higher educational institutes nationwide has increased from 36.6M to 43.2M in the past years. But in Panjab, the trend has reversed – it has decreased from 959K to 858K. As per the report, Panjab’s Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) stood at 27.4%, below the national average of 28.3%. GER is a key indicator of the level of participation in higher education within a given population. In other news, Canada's immigration minister, Marc Miller recently announced that those seeking spouses with high scores in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) in order to move abroad without an open work permit will not be eligible for migration. It is common for families to place matrimonial advertisements seeking IELTS-passed girls, with the groom’s family covering the wedding expenses, sending the girl to Canada, and bearing the financial burden – often exceeding ₹25 lakhs ($41K CAD). A 1990 to 2022 study by Panjab Agricultural University (PAU) titled A study on overseas migration from Rural Panjab: Trends, Causes, and Consequences, revealed that 9.51% of Panjabis migrated abroad on a spouse visa. Notably, over 50% of these migrants were males. While marriages should not be abused for migration, this move will harm the immigration business and affect families and the economy.
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