Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) has awarded scholarships to 2,038 students who passed SSC and equivalent examinations this year and are now studying HSC.
The scholarships were given in a ceremony held at Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the city on Saturday.
Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Anisul Huq was present as the chief guest, while Governor of Bangladesh Bank Fazle Kabir was present as special guest and handed over the scholarships to the students.
Sayem Ahmed, chairman, board of directors of DBBL presided over the function.
DBBL, under its social cause programme. has been awarding scholarships to the meritorious students in need of financial aid studying higher secondary or enrolled in graduate programmes.
Speaking at the function, Mr Anisul Huq lauded the scholarship programme and talked about other philanthropic activities of the bank.
"Dutch-Bangla banks created an exemplary model of corporate social responsibility by awarding underprivileged but meritorious students", he said.
He appreciated the DBBL’s humanitarian and welfare activities and termed this scholarship programme as a unique example of helping the country's meritorious and needy students.
He hoped that all corporate bodies would come forward with such programmes for the benefit of the society.
He congratulated the awardees and urged them to study attentively and become a good human being to contribute to the nation.
Mr Fazle Kabir appreciated the scholarship programme of DBBL and hoped that DBBL's continuous support to the meritorious but needy students will eventually contribute to the human resources development of the country.
Mr Sayem Ahmed said that Dutch- Bangla Bank started this scholarship when it noticed that there are a lot of students who did not receive fair chance, despite showing academic talent, for economic, demographic and societal reasons
“They are not able to pursue their dreams. Students are not lacking in merit, but they lack resources required to apply their merit”, he said.
He added that this ceremony will transform and empower students to do more.
Mr Abul Kashem Md Shirin, managing director & CEO of the bank congratulated the awardees and gave vote of thanks.
Under this initiative, a total number of 59,734 students got DBBL scholarship among which 16,506 students of different levels are receiving the scholarship at present.
