An overwhelming number of Indians are fascinated (sometimes downright obsessed with) by foreign education. We think that studying at a foreign university is much better than pursuing an education in India and that it guarantees a better and more successful life. Families take exorbitant loans from banks; parents spend their entire lives’ savings for their kids to secure a place at a foreign university. Many go to extreme lengths to secure admission, sometimes leading to desperate and unethical measures.
A striking example of this is Aryan Anand, a 19-year-old Indian student who secured a full scholarship at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Anand’s entire academic career was built on lies.
According to NDTV, he shared a post on Reddit, exposing his own deceit. He admitted that his application was entirely fake.
Anand took to Reddit to share how he faked transcripts, financial statements, and even a death certificate for his father, who is very much alive, to secure a full scholarship at the university.
The moderator of that particular subreddit decided to take action. There was only one flaw in Anand’s plan – the only other account he was following on Reddit was Lehigh University. The moderator decided to inform the institution.
The university was able to really dig deep and find that all this really was false. Anand was arrested on April 30 on charges of forgery and theft of services.
The charges against him included second-degree felonies for forgery and tampering with records and third-degree felonies for theft by deception and theft of services.
He was released on June 12 with a $25,000 bail. Although he could have faced 10-20 years in prison, the university intervened and decided on his expulsion and deportation to India instead, reported Mint.
How the glorification of foreign education has led people to engage in unethical practices!