DBBL gives scholarships to 3,008 students

Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd (DBBL) yesterday awarded scholarships to 3,008 poor, meritorious, and challenged students of different colleges as part of its corporate social responsibility.
The bank plans to increase the number of scholarship recipients to 30,000 in 2016 and spend Tk 102 crore a year.
Each recipient, who passed the SSC exam in 2011 and currently studies in college, will be entitled to Tk 2,000 a month and Tk 10,000 in one-off funds for purchasing books during the whole academic session.
AMA Muhith, finance minister, distributed the scholarship letters among the students at Shaheed Suhrawardy National Indoor Stadium in Dhaka.
He also urged all the corporate bodies to help the helpless and underprivileged students for the benefit of society.
“We need to nurture the poor and the meritorious students because today's students will be the future leaders of the country,” said Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank.
He said the banking sector spent around Tk 233 crore in 2010 on CSR activities, up from Tk 55 crore in 2009.
Sayem Ahmed, chairman of DBBL Executive Committee, said: “Giving scholarships is a way to turn the potential into results.”
The bank has given scholarships to the deserving students from 17,000 applications following a set of criteria such as the applicant's physical condition, academic result, financial capability and demography.
Around 90 percent of the scholarships have been given to the rural students and 50 percent to female students, said Ahmed.
“The bank would provide scholarships to 5000 students from HSC to graduate level from this year,” said KS Tabrez, managing director of DBBL.
Last year, the bank awarded scholarships to 3,023 intermediate students and 1,887 under graduate students.