Story of a Manipuri student in South Korea
James Khangenbam *
Yanchen Oinam at UNIST University South Korea
Across the world, Cement is a commonly used material in constructing concrete buildings. A lot of carbon emission takes place while manufacturing cement. To do away the environmental burden many researchers are doing research work at various Universities.
Yanchen Oinam from Manipur is also one among such researchers. He is currently researching on replacing cement with new materials. Under the scholarship of UNIST, he has completed his post graduate research at UNIST University South Korea. After qualifying the PhD exam, he is now continuing his research at the same university.
His research focusses on replacing cement with Industrial waste material from steel industry like GGBFS etc. lime mud from paper industry which are discarded as landfill. Yanchen completed his M Tech from Chennai and was looking for scholarship in South Korea.
He appeared his scholarship interview online during covid pandemic. His dream is to become a professor after completing his post-doctoral research. Like Yanchen many students from Manipur are doing their Phd in Science stream under scholarships at South Korea.
Every year Manipuris living in South Korea both working professionals and students would gather twice at a city and celebrate Sajibu Cheiraoba and Ningol Chakouba cultural festival.
On clearing his scholarship exam at the Korean University, he felt that the university gives chances to students you are keen in doing research.
Another research student from Manipur had joined in the University where he is studying, making a head count of two Manipuris in the campus. Both of them are loving the diversity in the University and they are exposed to different sensibilities of the world in terms of culture and practices.
A coffee cost around Rs 300, so Yanchen has to prepare his own coffee at his dormitory and cook his own food to save money. The cost of living is very high in South Korea but living standard are also equally high. People have good source of income. From the scholarship stipends he can manage his expenditure very well.
Coming from India, a coffee cost around Rs 300, so he has to prepare his own coffee at his dormitory and cook his own food to save money. The cost of living is very high in South Korea but living standard are also equally high. People have good source of income. From the scholarship stipends he can manage his expenditure very well, paying rent for his dormitory, clearing electric bill, kitchen expenditure etc.
Yanchen is now fine-tuned in spending more time in the lab while researching. During conference the researchers in the University sleeps for only six hours and on working days they end up working late at night. Saturday and Sunday the best time as weekend holidays rolls out.
Yanchen felt that the government schools in South Korea have certain restrictions where a student from a province cannot study at government schools outside of his province. However, it is not in the case of private schools which are often luxurious. He has the opinion that the system is followed to maintain good schools in each province and to avoid any disparity among government schools.
Far away from his home, Yanchen follows his dreams and hopes to come back to his country with full of knowledge.
* James Khangenbam wrote this article for e-pao.net
The writer can be contacted at jameskhangenbam7(AT)gmail(DOT)com
This article was webcasted on February 14 2023 and edited on February 16 with change in University name.
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