Ferdousi Kazal of Kurigram said her father walked out on her mother during her birth. Although it was too tough to bear the family expenses, her mother — a worker — never put a stop to her daughter’s study.
Ferdousi is now a graduate student of science at the National Orthopaedic Hospital and Rehabilitation Institute at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka.
She was able to continue her study with the help of Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd (DBBL) that will give her Tk 36,000 in scholarship funds a year for the next three years.
At a scholarship awards ceremony of DBBL yesterday, Ferdousi reminisced about her past in front of hundreds of students like her, along with policymakers and bankers of the country.
The programme took place at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka where hundreds of DBBL scholarship recipients gathered.
DBBL yesterday awarded scholarships to 857 students who passed HSC exams in 2011 and are studying at graduate level in universities and colleges across the country.
The bank plans to give Tk 102 crore to 30,000 students by 2016.
The scholarship is the acknowledgement of the intelligence and hard work of the recipients, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said at the event.
The bank authority nominated 857 higher secondary and honours students for the scholarship through a long intensive process, said Muhith.
Ninety percent of the recipients came from rural areas, Muhith said, adding that 50 percent of the scholarship awardees are girls, as the initiative aims to remove gender discrimination from society.
DBBL is the highest contributor in the education sector among business houses in terms of corporate social responsibility, Muhith said.
The bank awards the scholarship to poor intelligent students to help them continue study, which is included in the United Nations’ millennium development goals, said Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman.
The bank which gained the trust of poor intelligent students has so far disbursed Tk 35.22 crore among 7,913 students, he said.
Rahman hoped other banks will also come forward through their corporate social responsibilities.
According to a recent study, 40 percent people of the country have been brought under the banking or financial services channel, Rahman said. But he believes it would be nearly 50 percent which is close to the world average.
No local sponsor shareholder takes dividends from the bank so that the money could be used in the scholarship programme, the bank said in a statement.
For the last 15 years, the bank has also been donating for other sectors, including health, infrastructure, disaster management, sports and culture, said Sayem Ahmed, chairman of the executive committee of the board of directors of DBBL.
KS Tabrez, managing director of the bank, said 48 percent students of the country cannot continue their study due to the financials crisis. DBBL wants to work to stop the negative flow, he said.
Chairman of Dutch-Bangla Bank Foundation M Shahabuddin Ahmed who first took the initiative to award poor, intelligent students was also present.
-With The Daily Star input
