Reward for meritorious students

They also are considered as celebrities in their respective educational institutions. The reason behind the rejoicing by the school/college authorities could be that it affords them an opportunity to celebrate their own successes too.

What is found afterwards is that many of these students are not noticed in the graduation level or the professional fields to have scored good results or performance. It is possible that many of these students go abroad for higher education at their own cost or have lost interest in studying hard for keeping up their good performance at higher level of education.

Whatever be the reasons behind, the causes of their missing out are worth finding out by research organisations or authorities concerned. But one step seems essential to encourage these students to continue their good performance.

It is learnt that developed countries offer many scholarships for our students through the government of Bangladesh. But many of these scholarships lapse or are misused by sending mediocre students having relatively poor records of performance. The beneficiaries are often children of influential people. The perfect use of these scholarships through offering them to deserving meritorious students, in recognition of their hard efforts and extraordinary results in the national level examinations, can enthuse the young to work hard for similar achievements.

It seems that the rural meritorious students who perform well in public examinations in their relatively backward environment under the different boards, are not distinguished from their advantaged counterparts in the urban areas who usually do better. They do not receive appropriate award at the state level for being self-driven and studious. In spite of the limitations of their situation, some poor students of nondescript rural schools and colleges at times do very well in exams.

They outperform their urban-privileged counterparts. The government for their extraordinary performance should doubly recognise them. An opportunity to get education from a renowned educational institution abroad could be made the best award for them.

Shahida Rahman

Azimpur,

Dhaka