Hundreds of Parsi scholars have been helped by Parsi trusts for studies abroad. When I was chief executive officer of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet I found out to my dismay that most of them did not care to repay the grants.
I wrote to their parents/guardians and requested them to return, even in installments, the grants given so that other aspiring scholars could pursue their studies abroad. I explained three factors: the continually eroding value of the rupee; the British government not subsidizing Commonwealth students after Margaret Thatcher’s premiership; and the course fees which had galloped year after year.
Some of them repaid more than what they had been given. A few never cared to reply.
At any given time the funds are static, unless augmented by an addition to the Foreign Education Corpus, which we did.
As a moral obligation towards the following generations of students, parents and scholars should attempt to repay the grants as fast as they can. B. T. DASTUR
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