September 13, 2009

I informed Rakib that I received his education certificates and that I shared them with the scouts at Thursday’s troop meeting. Rakib asked what the scouts were doing. I informed him that the scouts would be working on canoe skills on a Delaware River trip on an upcoming weekend trip. Rakib stated that Bangladesh scouting was similar to US, but most activities are local. The don’t get the opportunity to travel.
Rakib’s teachers informed him that the Bangladesh medical College that he would like to attend will have only 110 seats available for the next term. it is anticipated that there will be 20,000 applications. It will be very difficult to obtain admission. Rakib stated that there are only 7 or 8 medical colleges in Bangladesh. He would like to apply to additional colleges but his funds are low. It costs 500 – 600 taka to collect a “admit” test application. He would also need about 20 taka for transportation to the other colleges in the Dhaka area. I told him I would see if we could send him some more money so he could apply to other medical colleges. One of Rakib’s teachers informed him of a seminar where he could learn about how to apply for admission to medical schools in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand who have programs for students from developing nations. These programs are offered to students from developing nations at a discount, about 10 – 12 luc taka ($15,000 – $18,000 US) per year. Rakib would not be able to pay this tuition. He is going to attend the seminar to see if there are any scholarships available. His teachers informed him that a student must be proficient in English to be eligible for a scholarship. I believe Rakib is. They informed him that a student applying for a scholarship must take an English proficiency test at the foreign country’s embassy. It cost 8,000 taka to take the test. The highest test score is 10 marks, you must score 6 marks or higher to pass.
I asked Rakib if he had found any scout programs in Dhaka. He said that at his community college near his village many of his teachers were scout leaders. He was not sure if the college teachers at the coaching school were scout leaders. He would like to participate in scout activities but he now spends most of his time studying. Before I traveled to Bangladesh when I volunteered for the cyclone disaster. I met a Bangladesh national scout leader on the internet who offered to help me if I needed assistance when I came to Bangladesh. I emailed him and told him about meeting Rakib in Rayenda and how the scouts in the US were helping him with his education expenses. I asked if I could give his name & tel. number to Rakib. He said certainly and he would inform Rakib of scouting opportunities in Dhaka.
Rakib recently learned that some rich people in Bangladesh make donations to medical colleges and there son’s and daughters get an advantage in admission to the school. Some don’t even take the admit test and still get admitted.
I asked if Rakib had been able to explore the city of Dhaka. Rakib said that Dhaka is a very big city and he had not traveled very far from his hostel. He does not have extra money fro transportation. He said that there were still many coaching class students at the hostel but some had drooped out so it is not quite as crowded.
We ended the call by wishing each other health and happiness for our family, friends and fellow scouts.