West Asia conflict: Stranded Keralite students anxious about returning in time for semester exams

The unexpected turn of events in West Asia following the stand-off involving Iran, Israel, and the United States has left Kerala students who are stranded there anxious about returning in time for their semester examinations.

Parents back home, worried both about their children’s safety and academic future, are scouring portals for flight tickets, while making panic-stricken calls to colleges for reassurance. Some institutions, including a reputed engineering college in Ernakulam, have issued letters certifying that examinations of their students stranded in Dubai are scheduled later this month, requesting airlines to accord them priority for tickets.

Rohith M.P., a final-year Computer Science and Business Systems student at a premier autonomous institute in Kochi, has his final-semester examinations beginning on March 24 and an internal test on Monday (March 9, 2026). On a visit to Dubai, he was scheduled to return on March 5, but his flight was cancelled by the airline in the wake of escalating tensions in the UAE.

After a frantic search for tickets, which proved elusive as airports in the region either remained closed or operated limited services, his father eventually managed to book a seat for a small fortune of ₹50,000 from Sharjah to Kozhikode. He took a cab from Dubai to Sharjah on the eve of flight and flew out and reached returned home on Saturday (March 7, 2026) morning.

“We were standing in front of Burj Khalifa on the night of February 28 when sirens went off. Before we could realise what was happening, a bunch of drones appeared, which I am not sure were meant for surveillance before an imminent attack or part of the defence system. Soon after, we received an alert on our phones to move to the safety of indoors, and then we saw what we were to soon realise was a missile,” said Rohith. His friends Joseph Kurian George and Joel Biju also returned on Saturday.

That flight operations have increasingly improved since the onset of tensions has come as a relief though.

Ciza Thomas, Vice-Chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU), however, said the university has not yet come across cases of stranded students in West Asia. Except for final-year students who might be away for projects, others are unlikely to be affected since they would be attending regular classes, she said.

Ms. Thomas added that in the case of autonomous institutions, managements have the authority to conduct re-tests for students unable to return in time for examinations.