Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday inaugurated the disbursement of stipends and tuition fees among insolvent and meritorious students from the secondary to graduate (pass) and its equivalent level.

She opened the distribution by joining a program physically in the city’s Osmani Memorial Auditorium.

At the event, the prime minister also conferred the awards to the most talented students of Bangabandhu Srijanshil Mridha Oneshan-2024 (Bangabandhu Creative Talent Search-2024) and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Scholarship Award-2023.

Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury presided over the function, while PM’s Education and Cultural Affairs Adviser Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury and State Minister for Education Begum Shamsun Naher spoke on the occasion.

A total of Tk2,208 crore would be disbursed among more than 6,470,000 students from the secondary, higher secondary and graduation and equivalent institutions, said Secretary of Secondary and Higher Education Division Suleman Khan in his welcome speech.

The stipends and tuition fees are being disbursed through online mobile financial service to the students under the G2P (government to person) system in the current fiscal year, he said.

Besides, 15 talented students who were found out through the Bangabandhu Srijanshil Mridha Oneshan-2024, were awarded, while 21 post-graduate-level students were conferred with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Scholarship Award-2023, said the secretary.

The 15 students each received a certificate and Tk2 lakh, while the 21 students, selected for the scholarship award-2023, each received a certificate and Tk3 lakh.

Nusrat Jahan Maliha, a class-VIII student of Hazaribagh Girls’ School and College on behalf of the students; Atifa Rahman, a class-X student of Amena-Baki Residential Model School and College in Dinajpur and Pinak Mugdha Das, a Class-XI student of Government Majid Memorial City College in Khulna on behalf of the awardees under Bangabandhu Srijanshil Mridha Oneshan-2024; and Zarin Tasneem Raisa, a student of English Department at Dhaka University and Al Foysal Bin Kashem Kanon, a student of the Education Department at Dhaka University, on behalf of the awardees under Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Scholarship Award-2023, shared their feelings at the function.