An independent government watchdog is conducting an investigation into the Home Office's decision where it has accused about 34,000 international students from non-English speaking countries of cheating in the mandatory English language test and due to which over 1000 students have been removed from the UK.
The National Audit Office (NAO) has launched an investigation into Home Office's decision of revocation of visas for these international students following a BBC Panorama documentary in 2014. According to the documentary, some of these students were “caught cheating” by using a “proxy” to appear for the speaking section of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) exams. However, campaigners, and parliamentarians over the years have argued for the rights of these students who have not been provided with evidence by the Home Office of these “cheating allegations”.
Rahman is an undergraduate student from Bangladesh who had come to the UK in 2009 to pursue his degree in Business Administration and is one of the 34,000 such students accused by the Home Office today. Having failed to receive any proof from the Government or the Educational Testing Service (ETS), an institution organising these tests, Wahidur has waited for half a decade to clear these allegations off his name. Today, at the news of the NAO's investigation in compliance with the Home Office, Rahman says he is “optimistic” of the future.
“I am positive that after the independent authority has taken charge of the investigation, the truth will come out about how the Home Office has mishandled this issue and further reveal their incompetence,” said Wahidur Rahman.
APPG and Urgent Question Hour
The Home Office concluded that around 34,000 of the 58,458 students who had taken the test between 2011 and 2014 had definitely cheated, that a further 22,600 had “questionable results”, and that only 2,000 had definitely not cheated. Now an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) campaign is calling for these students to be allowed to retake their tests and prove their innocence. The APPG on TOEIC is chaired by Stephen Timms and other members include- Jim Fitzpatrick, Ruth Cadbury, Martyn Day, Mike Gapes and Paul Scully. They're currently planning to have frequent meetings where they are hearing testimonies from different groups including students themselves and legal professionals. The plan is to produce a report with recommendations for the government.
Speaking at the House of Commons on 29th April, Monday, Stephen Timms MP called on the Home Secretary to allow those remaining in the UK to sit a new test, describing their “desperate hardship”. He has also challenged the Minister over students’ court challenges, pointing out that appeal courts have described the Home Office evidence as “worthless.”
Whereas Shadow Immigration Minister Afzal Khan pointed out that the government has “lost case after case in the courts” and said the Home Office’s approach had been “driven by the hostile environment and net immigration target”.
However, the Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes announced a further delay to the Home Office's announcement regarding this subject and indicated that any announcement would be delayed until after the NAO has released its report that is expected to be published by late May.
Justice delayed not denied: NAO Investigation
“We are disappointed that the Home Secretary has chosen to avoid addressing the issue that has left thousands of innocent students in desperate limbo for five years, deciding instead to send Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes to face Urgent Question from Stephen Timms MP question,” said Nazek Ramadan, Director of Migrant Voice.
Migrant Voice is a charity that has been at the forefront of this campaign of achieving justice for these international students who have been relying on support from their friends and relatives for financial aid.
But aside from Nazek, Geeta Rani is one of these 34,000 students who has wasted half a decade and close to £40,000 in legal aid and tuition fees waiting for her name to be cleared. Each day that the announcement is delayed, the humiliation of depending on her family takes a toll on her mental health. However, like Wahidur, even Geeta is 'hopeful' of the NAO Investigation.
“I am hopeful that the outcome will be positive and that ultimately I am able to clear my name off these allegations so that I can at least move ahead in my life,” she said.
Meanwhile, the NAO have spoken about how “The Home Office revoked student visas where there was evidence of cheating, but its decisions have come under renewed public and parliamentary scrutiny in the wake of the Windrush scandal”.
“The NAO is looking at the information held by the Home Office on the number of people alleged to have cheated and the action the Home Office has taken to date.”
