BD students in Russia seek financial support from govt

The Bangladeshi students studying in Russian on nuclear science have said that they are facing financial crisis as the stipend provided to them by the Russian government is inadequate to meet their monthly expenses. They urged the Bangladesh government to introduce a special scheme for providing financial help to them so that they can smoothly complete their education in Russia. ‘We are now in financial constraint. We’re receiving about 2,150 Russian Rubles a month as stipend from the Russian government, but that’s too inadequate to meet our monthly expenses,’ said Mohammad Abdul Hamid who recently has gone to Russia under a scholarship programme. Sixty-five Bangladeshi students have gone to Russia under a deal between Dhaka and Moscow to study in different universities. They are now studying in about 30 universities outside Moscow. This has been the first team of students to study in Russian universities on nuclear science, particularly the nuclear power technology under the deal Dhaka has signed with Moscow to set up a 2000MW power plant with two units, each having 1000 MW capacity. A Bangladeshi student said that the Vietnamese government has been supporting their students in a bigger way as each of them are receiving about US dollar 250 a month, each of Turkey students gets $ 550 per month from the Turkey government while each of other countries are getting financial help from their respective governments. ‘It’s only the Bangladeshi students who do not get any financial help from their own government,’ the student said adding they are preparing to place their demand for government financial support to Bangladesh Ambassador in Moscow, according to a news agency.