November 26, 2009 – Applications Underway

My phone rang at 10 AM this morning. It was Rakib’s signal for me to call him. This was unusual, we talk once a week and I had just talked to him a few days ago. I thought it might be important so I called him. He was quite enthusiastic as he spoke. He told me he had received a text message from the government that authorized him to apply to medical colleges. He said he had o trouble collecting the money we sent him to pay for college applications and related transportation costs. He told me that he had already applied to three medical colleges in Dhaka City. They were Bangladesh Medical College, Ibrahim Medical College and Holy Family Medical College.
He was quite concerned that Bangladesh Med. College had raised its tuition from 10 lukh to 12 lukh taka, ($14,700 to $17,700 U.S.) There is also a tax of 4.5% added, $795 U.S. and a monthly fee of $103. The monthly fee does not include room and board. Surprisingly he said that the tuition fees are posted in U.S. dollars and converted to taka for the local students. This may be because 10% of the seats are reserved for foreign students, mostly from other countries in the Asia / Pacific region. The increase in the tuition is most likely due to the declining value of the dollar against world currencies.
The tuition at Ibrahim Med. College is 9 lukh & 40,000 TK ($13,800 U.S.) the monthly fee is 5000TK ($73 U.S.) Rakib thought all tax was included in this fee.
Rakib spoke with great enthusiasm when he mentioned Holy Family Medical College. He said it was a Christian based college that was closely related to the international Red Cross / Red Crescent. He said they
gave him a brochure with over thirty pages that explained it mission and history. He insisted on reading a couple of paragraphs about the mission and history of the Red Cross to me. In summery he read;
The Red Cross idea was born in 1859, when Henry Dunant, a young Swiss man, came upon the scene of a bloody battle in Solferino, Italy, between the armies of imperial Austria and the Franco-Sardinian alliance. Some 40,000 men lay dead or dying on the battlefield and the wounded were lacking medical attention.
Dunant organized local people to bind the soldiers’ wounds and to feed and comfort them. On his return, he called for the creation of national relief societies to assist those wounded in war, and pointed the way to the future Geneva Conventions.
The Red Cross was born in 1863 when five Geneva men, including Dunant, set up the International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, later to become the International Committee of the Red Cross. Its emblem was a red cross on a white background: the inverse of the Swiss flag. The following year, 12 governments adopted the first Geneva Convention; a milestone in the history of humanity, offering care for the wounded, and defining medical services as “neutral” on the battlefield.
Rakib informed me that the tuition for Holly Family Med College is 9 lukh & 75,000 TK ($14,400 U.S.), and a monthly fee of 4000 TL ($59 U.S.). Rakib was quite impressed that there was a complete breakdown of the tuition fee in his paperwork. The breakdown included items such as admission fee, development fee, library card, student ID card, etc. All of the colleges include a fee for caution money in the tuition. He was not sure what this is but we believe it is to pay a few months of monthly fees if you fall behind. It is refundable after a certain length of time.
I asked Rakib what the campuses looked like. He said they were all rather small, they are in the city and land is at a premium. Bangladesh Med. College had three buildings. All are associated with a hospital. The government requires that medical colleges have an association with a hospital that has 250 beds per 50 med. students. He said he would have the internet café scan the fee schedule documents and he would try to email them to us.
Rakib said he will travel to Khulna state tomorrow, stay overnight, collect and file the application forms for Khulna Med. College and return to Dhaka the following day. He said to save money he would take the local bus, rather that the express. The local busses are in pretty rough condition. People sometimes ride upper-class (on the roof). The express busses are in much better condition but would be well past their retirement age by U.S. standards. The express bus costs about $9 one way the local bus $4.50. this is for an eight hour trip.
Rakib ended the call by asking that I give is love, appreciation to all of the scouts and their families.