Award Ceremony Held for 300 Bangladeshi Scholars [2008/03/10]
Students at the awards ceremony The Nippon Foundation provides scholarships to well-qualified students in Bangladesh, one of the poorest Asian nations. An award ceremony was recently held in the national capital, Dhaka, to recognize the 300 scholars selected for the 2007 school year. Launched in 1995, this project has now provided scholarships to a total of 2,750 students. Held December 26, 2007, in a lecture hall at the Bangladesh National Museum, the award ceremony was attended by 300 students of the University of Dhaka and the University of Chittagong. Each recipient received 12,000 taka (approximately 20,000 yen), the annual tuition at national universities in Bangladesh. Undertaken in cooperation with the Bangladesh NGO, the Bangladesh Scholarship Council (BSC), this scholarship program received 5,000 applications this year. The 300 recipients were selected based on academic performance and economic need.(Photo:A student accepting her scholarship) Attending the awards ceremony were the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a professor from the University of Dhaka and the chief advisor to the BSC, representatives from the Embassy of Japan and members of the Nippon Foundation’s International Program Department. All offered their encouragement to the scholarship recipients. (Photo:The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court with scholars) With its low annual national per capita income (USD 431 in 2005), Bangladesh faces numerous challenges in the area of education. According to UNESCO statistics, the literacy rate is 41.1%, and only 6% of the country has attended university. In light of these circumstances, The Nippon Foundation began providing scholarships in 1995 to well-qualified students raised in economically disadvantaged homes, aiming to support national development through human resources development. The foundation plans to continue its support. Over the ten years since the program’s inception, reports indicate that former scholars are developing into a key part of the nation’s human resource foundation. |