November 23, 2009 – Great News

Rakib called me at 5:00 AM, (5:00 PM in Bangladesh) he said he had good news. He told me that he just got a text message from the government that said “Thank you for taking the medical college admission exam, your position is #530. Only the top 1000 students who took the exam will be able to apply for admission to medical college. Rakib placed # 530 on the exam and he will be allowed to apply to medical colleges. There were seven students at his hostel who were attending medical college coaching class. Only three of them passed the exam, Rakib placed #530, another #768 and the third #932. Rakib can apply to multiple colleges. If he is accepted at more than one the choice of which to attend is his. Rakib must now wait for further instruction on when he can apply to college. Rakib thinks he will be able to collect and submit application forms on 25, 26, 29 & 30 November. 27 & 28 Nov. are a holiday and the colleges will be closed. He would like to apply to 6 colleges that he has been told are the best. Three are in Dhaka City, one is in Dhaka state neat Dhaka city, and another is Khulna Medical College in Khulna City, Khulna state and Chittagong Medical College in Chittagong City, Chittagong state. The admission fee is 1000 Taka for each college. He also needs money for transportation to the colleges and 5000 taka for his December hostel fee. I told him I would try to send him 15,000 TK ($225 U.S.) today. I later sent $260, 17,000TK. The admission announcements should be between December 1 & 10. Students on the waiting list will be admitted between December 9 & 30. Class starts in January. I asked Rakib if it would help if the Troop sent a letter that he could give to the colleges advising them that he had financial aid from us. He did not know if such a letter would help.
I’ll bet they are celebrating in Rayenda tonight. Rakib’s parents, his teachers and tutors I’m sure are quite proud of him. This could possibly be the first student from the Sharonkola College to pass the Medical College admission exam. This is quite a tribute to his teachers who are working in grossly substandard buildings, with few books and teaching supplies. In this rural area computers, internet and audio visual aids are non existent.
Rakib asked me to obtain a certificate of appreciation and present it to the scouts. He said “this has changed my life”. I emailed him a draft certificate for him to review and add text to. I hope to present it to the Troop 1776 Scouts at the next COH.
Rakib ended the call by expressing his gratitude to the scouts and their families and asking me to extend his Thank You to them.

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