Medhabikash Udyog is a social experiment that aims to provide study opportunities to deprived meritorious students through a scholarship scheme. To do this, the program has set several criteria for the selection process such as academic results and living standards of the beneficiaries which are precisely measured before initiating the scholarship scheme. BRAC Primary School (BPS) graduates, Adivasi, and physically challenged candidates to get some flexibility in this selection process. The study was initiated to explore the function and effectiveness of this program. It also explored the challenges and further educational engagement of excluded beneficiaries. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were applied for data collection. The study dealt with three types of Medhabikash beneficiaries: current, former, and excluded. In the survey, a total of 1009 beneficiaries were interviewed and out of the 452 were current and 557 were former beneficiaries. A total of 23 in-depth interviews were conducted for capturing detailed information on challenges and educational involvement of excluded beneficiaries. Findings revealed that the program proved its efficiency in several aspects. Staff members are able to maintain the candidate selection procedure precisely. In general, beneficiaries belong to low-income families and more than half of them belong to deficit households. The program achieved positive acceptance from them. However, in a few areas, the program needs to improve several aspects including spending less time selecting candidates, establishing a regular communication mechanism, organizing frequent regional workshops and job fairs, intensive monitoring, and extending their support up to post-graduation level.
Authors: Afroze, Rifat
Type: Working Paper
Year: 2015
