BRAC’s holistic approach to poverty alleviation is a function of its core beliefs, and BRAC’s Education Programme in particular is an example of a development tool that promotes advancement over a lifetime. Education can be a means of transcending social class and economic boundaries as it has the power to lift future generations out of poverty and disenfranchisement. Within BRAC’s Education Programme, Medhabikash has been enabling young students to pursue higher education on an international level.
Ten bright minds sit in a conference room eagerly awaiting the arrival of Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the primary catalyst in initiating their prospects for achieving higher education. The students in the room – all 18- and 19-year old females – bring both a sense of wonderment and anxiety to the conference table. The next four years of their lives will differ greatly from their humble roots, as they are all moving to India to attend two very prestigious universities situated in two urban locales. Having come from different areas of rural Bangladesh, these students share the desire to further their education, make their parents proud, and most importantly, give back to the land they came from.
The first student I spoke to, Tumpa Akhter, age 19, fears the inevitable difficulty of maintaining a valuable social life while attaining the highest marks possible. She values time management and knows this will be imperative in achieving success at Rai University, where she will be working to attain her BBA. Zafrin Sultana, age 19, tells us that her biggest worry is leaving her parents; she explains that because she is a dominant participant in taking care of the family’s cattle business, her parents will hurt a little bit during her years away from them. Although this weighs on her mind heavily, she looks to the future and assures us all that once she attains stellar marks in school, she will come back to her hometown of Malikgonj and bring her parents out of their financial hardships by working as an engineer. Another student jokingly compares the Indian food she will have to eat and her favorite Bangladeshi meals.
Although they demonstrate drive and passion through their numerous stories of struggle and hardship, these students are not your everyday young visionaries. They are all winners of the Rai Foundation Scholarship, which requires an HSC GPA of 5.0 and the drive to compete at some of the most prestigious universities in India. Three of the ten students had also achieved the “golden 5” GPA – a tremendous honor. Tumpa and four other girls will be studying to attain their BBA at Rai University, while Fariha and four of her classmates are candidates of a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) at EIILM University in Sikkim. Furthermore, upon inquiry, each student unanimously agreed that she would come back to Bangladesh to support her family by doing business or practicing engineering here. Their commitment to their people as well as their academic prowess create the perfect combination for uplifting the societies from which they came.
It is truly refreshing to see students like this prepare themselves for what will be the four most important years of their lives thus far. In addition to presenting scholarships to most worthy students, BRAC’s Medhabikash Programme assists foundations like BRAC-Rai in selecting the best candidates from Bangladesh. These students will continue on to work in fields and industries where their talents will be useful, and hopefully over the course of time, will then be able contribute in the development work of Bangladesh.
By Shams Uddin Ahmed
Shams Uddin Ahmed, Communications Intern, is a fourth year Finance student at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. USA with an interest in micro-finance and healthcare studies.