A scholarship list is yet to be published five months after publication of the results of the first ever Junior School Certificate (JSC) and Junior Dakhil Certificate (JDC) examinations, creating anxiety among students.
Officials at the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) and education ministry fear that the budget allocated for scholarships may not be disbursed if the lists are not published by the stipulated time, i.e. June 30.
In that case, students may not receive the scholarship money this year, said the officials as they expressed their concern over the bureaucratic tangle over formulating a policy on scholarship.
As a replacement for scholarship exams, the government last year introduced the JSC and JDC examinations with some 13.96 lakh students from 27,289 general schools and madrasas participating in those.
Eight general education boards and one madrasa board conducted the exams in grading system where a total of 8,556 students scored the highest GPA-5 (Grade Point Average).
On the day the results were published, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid told the reporters that the scholarships would be announced soon after formulating a policy on it.
Admitting the sluggishness in preparing the policy, Khandakar Rakibur Rahman, joint secretary (secondary), said "There were some errors in the policy which took some time to solve."
"We hope the process would be complete within the stipulated time," he told The Daily Star yesterday.
However, sources at DSHE said they prepared the policy as per the direction of the ministry and sent it to the ministry on April 18.
But, the ministry split the policy into two parts--one for general boards and another for madrasa, creating more complexities, they said. Eventually the ministry merged it again under one policy, they added.
The ministry, however, did not bring any major change in the draft which said the scholarship would be in two categories -- talent pool and general.
In JSC, 30,800 scholarships would be awarded among the students of general boards while 6,000 were allocated for JDC, according to the draft.
GPA-2.00 would be the minimum eligibility to get scholarship in general category while GPA-3 would the minimum eligibility to get scholarship in talent pool category.
In talent pool category under JSC exams, a student would get scholarship money of Tk 300 per month and Tk 375 per year for two years. In general category, the students would get Tk 200 per month and Tk 225 per year for two years, the draft said, adding the same amounts also apply for JDC or madrasa students.
After finalising the draft, the ministry would send a letter along with the copy of the policy to the finance ministry asking for its permission for issuing circular, said ministry officials.
Source: The Daily Star (May 25, 2011)
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