DIBRUGARH, June 7 - Standing tall as an inspiration, three girl students from the tea community here have been selected for study in the prestigious Asian University for Women, located in Chittagong of Bangladesh.
The selection of these three girls has generated a sense of pride in the tea community in particular and the State in general.
The names of selected girls are Sonali Kerketa and Bandana Pator from Dikom Tea Estate and Pollobi Das from Hokunguri Tea Estate. They have been selected for graduation studies in a pathway programme of five years.
The cost of the entire programme for a student comes to around Rs 52 lakh. The three students will be enrolled in the University with 100% tuition fee waiver as well as fooding and lodging free of cost for full five years.
Asian University for Women (AUW) is an international university in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Students are enrolled from entire Asia and Middle East solely on merit basis and almost all are on full scholarship.
The entire credit for the selection goes to the Indian Tea Association (ITA), Assam Branch and the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) under whose patronage the students were successful in the selection process. The whole selection exercise had started with a joint discussion at ABITA Zone 1 conference hall, Chaulkhowa between the representatives from the Asian University for Women (AUW), the Indian Tea Association and ABITA on March 26 last.
A joint meeting cum orientation was held on March 27 at ACMS central office with the representative from AUW, ITA, ABITA, tea garden managements, ACMS, adolescent girls and their parents where the representative from AUW briefed the overview and objective of the University.
Accordingly, some 21 students including five from Dikom Tea Estate turned up for a preliminary interview at the ACMS central office. ITA and ACMS provided handholding support in conducting the written test as well as oral test in a smooth manner. There was a written examination and online interview through Skype.
�We were informed about this opportunity by the garden management and ABITA-UNICEF, but we did not know how to proceed. It was then Samar Jyoti Chaliha, senior manager, Dikom TE, called us to the office and handed over model question papers to solve. In fact, he arranged studying materials, checked our answer-scripts, arranged private tutors and also conducted mock interview to face interviewers in Skype. All these helped us tremendously in building confidence to get selected,� Bandana Pator and Sonali Kerketa told The Assam Tribune.
