‘Technical students to get more financial assistance’

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has stressed the need for allocating more money to technical and vocational training from the Prime Minister’s Education Assistance Trust to develop a skilled and efficient generation as they can be entrepreneurs instead of running after jobs.

“More money will be allocated to the students of technical and vocational educational institutes from the trust aimed at making the youths skilled and efficient ones as they can be entrepreneurs instead of running after jobs.”

The premier said in the 6th advisory council members’ meeting of Prime Minister’s Education Assistance Trust at her office on Sunday.

Sheikh Hasina, also Chief Patron of the advisory council of the trust, said, “We should change the mindset of running after for jobs.”

She asked the youths to be employers instead of employees.

In this context, she said, “We have formed the trust to give educational assistance to talented but poor students as they can be self-reliant and thus their families.”

The premier said this when a proposal regarding providing educational assistance to the poor students, who are facing financial hardship to get admitted to the medicals, engineering and general universities for higher education, was placed before the meeting.

Prime Minister’s Education Assistance Trust was constituted in 2012 aimed at providing scholarships to the poor and meritorious students deprived of the opportunity of education due to lack of money.

A total of Taka 1,000 crore was given as seed money for the trust in the 2011-12 fiscal.

As many as Taka 550.90 crore have already been distributed among poor talented students as stipend and financial assistance since 2013.

The trust has decided to distribute over Taka 111.40 crore among 209,600 poor students of private educational institutions this year.

Dhaka/AKA