Bashundhara distributes scholarships, books

Moynal Hossain Chowdhury, an adviser to Bashundhara Group and also secretary to Bashundhara Foundation, distributes books and scholarship money among students at Bancharampur Sobhania Islamia Alim Madrasa in Brahmanbaria on Saturday. Bancharampur, March 11: Bashundhara Foundation, a concern of country’s largest business conglomerate Bashundhara Group (BG), on Saturday awarded scholarship and distributed books to about 2,000 students of different schools and madrasas in Banchharampur upazila of Brahmanbaria district. The foundation has introduced the scholarship program as part of BG’s corporate commitment to patronizing education and encouraging school students to attain better academic performance. Accordingly, scholarship money and a piece of Bukhari Shareef, a collection of Hadith, were handed over to each of a total of 1,080 students of 19 schools and eight madrasas in Banchharampur at a function. It was the 9th annual scholarship and fourth Islamic book distribution ceremony, held at the playground of Banchharampur Sobahania Islamia Alim Madrasa. “This kind of initiative will create competitive atmosphere for the students to perform better. The foundation’s aim is to inspire the students to show competitive attitude,” Moynal Hossain Chowdhury, an advisor of BG and also secretary of the foundation, told the function. He mentioned that BG Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan has been working for the development of Banchharampur area. “This scholarship money distribution is one of his unique initiatives for the welfare of the people,” he pointed out. He said they have planned to expand the scholarship program in the coming days. Currently, 10 students of each class are being provided with scholarship for supporting their studies. The scholarship covers eight meritorious students of each class from VII to X, one from poor family and one from dropouts. Moynal Hossain asked the students to stay away from drugs, saying that they should be cautious while choosing friends. “The role of a friend in someone’s life is very significant,” he added. Sirajul Islam, Banchharampur upazila parishad chairman, appreciated the BG chairman’s welfare initiative and his contribution to poverty alleviation in the areas. He cited the example of BG’s interest-free lending program that is helping the poor and helpless people in the areas to become self-reliant. Assistant General Manager of BG Maimun Kabir, Executive Engineer Shafiqul Islam, Bashundhara Foundation’s micro-credit project-in-charge Mosharraf Hossain and Banchharampur sadar union chairman Hazrat Ali were among others present. The function was presided over by Ruhul Amin, principal of Banchharampur Sobahania Islamia Alim Madrasa.