College Scholarship: Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) Exam results are out. Out of 79 VAB scholarship holders who appeared in the exam, the pass rate was 96%. Except 7 students with “B” grade, all others received “A-” or higher grade.

Teacher’s Training: VAB has successfully completed a 5-day (July 14-18, 2012) training program in Science for 22 teachers from different rural High Schools. This makes a total of 645 teachers who have so far received VAB training in English, Math, Science, Accounting and Computer.

On June 17, 2012, parent VAB held its Annual Meeting in New York. The meeting received with satisfaction the progress report from the Country Director on the delivery of VAB programs in Bangladesh, the adoption of 28 new schools from some of the depressed areas, and the approval to purchase a Flat in Dhaka as a permanent place for VAB. The meeting emphasized on starting an all out campaign to raise funds from both individuals and institutions at home and abroad to meet the increased demand for VAB services, and for the purchase of the Flat. To that end, VAB plans to launch a letter campaign during the coming Ramadan for the zakat money, organize a fundraising dinner in New York in September, contact regional organizations for their support, and also initiate a separate campaign for the endowment fund. Additionally, the meeting has enthusiastically welcomed the newly formed VAB-Canada to the VAB family of volunteers.

A five-day training program on teaching Mathematics for the high school teachers at rural level was held in May 2012 at the office of Volunteers Association for Bangladesh (VAB) in Mohammadpur, Dhaka. Nineteen teachers from Kurigram, Narayanganj, Brahmanbaria, Comilla, Faridpur, Nilphamari and Satkhira areas attended the training. Certificates were awarded to the participants in the concluding session on May 30, 2012."

Starting with 20 rural schools in 2005, VAB has brought in 35 schools under its programs by 2011. Having gained experience on the effectiveness of its programs, the management was planning for an additional 15 schools in 2012. Fortunately, thanks to donor commitment, VAB was able to increase school sponsorships by 25, making the total sponsored schools to 60 this year. Another good news is that, of the new sponsored schools, 20 poorly performed schools were chosen from the depressed areas of Satkhira, Nilphamari and Kurigram in the northern part of Bangladesh.

In line with its Strategic Plan, VAB Board has approved on October 2, 2011, a plan for the sponsorship of additional 15 schools in 2012. Each new school will form a cluster with four other schools within the radius of 5 to 10 miles in rural areas of Bangladesh. Of the 15 schools, pledges for sponsorship of 11 schools with a yearly donation $2,500 each for five years have already been received.

In an effort to be more responsive and efficient in administering and delivering its services in the USA and fieldwork in Bangladesh, VAB has moved to new office locations in both countries as of July 2011. For full details on both locations, Please click here.

The recipients of VAB College Scholarships completed their college studies and took the national Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exam. Their results were extraordinary — 96% success rate while the national rate was 75%. An HSC places our college scholars in an excellent position for productive employment in the emerging economy. Many may wish to enrich their human capital by pursuing higher education, particularly in engineering, medicine, sciences and business administration. VAB Patrons wishing to help them may contact us.

In its first meeting held on October 2, 2011, the new VAB Management Group has adopted a number of measures including the ratification of the proposed amendment to the Bylaws to grant Chapter status to organizations in other areas, the implementation of school expansion plan, and the development of a comprehensive Database for monitoring and evaluation of various VAB programs.