Stipend for HSC BM students

To reduce unemployment and impart career-oriented education, the government initiated the Higher Secondary Certificate in Business Management, also known as HSC BM, in 1996. Since then, the higher secondary course has been drawing much interest among a number of students, possibly because they get stipend regularly from the government. However, it is unfortunate that for the past two years, the BM students have been deprived of stipends in technical and commercial colleges run by the Bangladesh Department of Technical Education. As a result, many students are leaving the country instead of getting admitted to BM courses while a number of them are dropping out.

If the stipend for BMA course is stopped, the educational institutions concerned will face loss in various ways. Students and their parents will lose interest in technical education if the authorities concerned do not start giving stipends to the BM students on an urgent basis. Moreover in the long run, this may intensify our unemployment problem. The students are also seeking the intervention of the Education Minister and senior officials of the relevant department in this regard so that it can be assured that the BM students are receiving their due stipends.

Kamal Chowdhury,

Ramna, Dhaka