Planning for a lifetime: the gift of education for BRAC Scholarship program students, Part 1/5

There is a Chinese Proverb that says, “If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people”.

BRAC’s holistic approach to poverty alleviation is a function of such beliefs, and BRAC’s education program 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 program, is a relatively new and exciting initiative known as the BRAC Scholarship program or the Medha Bikash program.

Medha means “merit” and Bikash means “development”, thus Medha Bikash roughly translated means “promoting merit or talent”. The Scholarship program resulted from BRAC’s recognition that there are a significant number of intelligent students that come from poor backgrounds. These students are typically high-achievers, attaining grades of at least 80 percent in the Secondary School Certificates (SSC) and a grade point average of at least 5.0. However, financial pressures often hinder their academic performance and restrict their ability to pursue higher education.

The BRAC Scholarship program was created to address these barriers. The program first provides financial support. For example, students receive funding for admission fees, private tuition, books and other education materials. In addition, female students receive a stipend for transportation and incidental expenses. The program’s creators also had the foresight to appreciate the significance of technology and foreign language proficiency in the modern world and have integrated specially designed training modules to help develop student confidence and skills in computer studies and English.

The English language course has been designed to help students learn more advance aspects of the English language that are often not covered in the traditional curriculum. With the general standard of English language teaching being rather poor in most secondary schools, especially due to a reliance on rote learning, the English course is fundamental in helping students’ English language proficiency move to the next level.

The Information Technology training program covers the elementary skills that are essential to carryout common office tasks, including basic competency in Microsoft Word and Excel. For students who do not even have the luxury of electricity in their homes - many study by the light of a simple kerosene lamp - this valuable computer training would not have been available without BRAC’s assistance.

This blog post introduces a 5 part series, in which the stories of three of this year’s BRAC Scholarship program students will be presented by BRAC volunteer Nilopar Uddin. Each student, with BRAC’s support, has succeeded in securing a place at India’s top Rajastan University and is preparing to embark on an exciting and ultimately life-changing journey, led by the power of education.

Nilopar Uddin assisted in fundraising and awareness-building activities at the BRAC USA office as a volunteer and also spent a couple of months in Dhaka, providing legal consultancy services to BRAC International. Nilopar is an English qualified lawyer and spent almost three years as a Capital Markets Associate working at Allen & Overy LLP's London and New York offices before joining BRAC.