New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS) Coining a new term "forex drain", Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday said a hole of $6 billion has been drilled into the country's foreign exchange reserves by about 13 lakh students who took admission in institutions abroad in 2024.

Cautioning students against herd mentality and craze to study abroad, the Vice President said quite like "brain drain" the current trend of "forex drain" needs to be addressed.

"Imagine the improvement that could have been brought about in our education system had this money been spent on country's educational institutions," said the Vice President at the Silver Jubilee Celebration of Sobhasaria Group of Institutions at Sikar, Rajasthan.

Jagdeep Dhankhar urged educational institutes to educate students about the not-so-rosy situation abroad and the ranking of colleges that they are taking admission to.

"I call upon educational institutions and industry leaders to hold seminars and make our young boys and girls aware of the avenues in the country where they can aspire to serve the nation and themselves," he said.

The Vice President also called upon resourceful Indians to contribute to the education sector and build institutions in tier-2 and tier-3 cities and rural areas. “This will be a big transition for the country,” he said.

Vice President Dhankhar also encouraged teachers for leveraging technology to overcome physical constraints and provide good quality education.

"Our teachers are talented, but there are physical constraints. They can't be everywhere or anywhere. We must use technology in the field of education. That will give our students great leverage to get quality education," he said, according to a statement issued here.

It is education that is the most impactful transformative mechanism to bring about equality, cut into inequity, and be a great societal leveler, he said.

"We are living in times of disruptive technology. Young minds have to grapple with them artificial intelligence, internet of things, blockchain, and machine learning. There is a change every day, and this change is a challenge. This change has to be converted into opportunities, and that can be done only through education," he said.

Highlighting the country’s resolve to become developed by 2047, Vice President Dhankhar said the youth have to show faith in the nation.

“It is the obligation of our youth to neutraliwe anti-national forces which give priority to political, personal or monetary benefits over nation,” he said.