Interim government calls off Prime Minister Fellowship program

 
The Prime Minister Fellowship for the fiscal year 2024-2025 has been invalidated. Individuals who were granted this fellowship for 2024-2025 fiscal year have been informed by email about the program's abrogation order. Mohammad Abdul Latif, Director General of Governance Innovation Unit at the interim government's Chief Adviser's office confirmed the matter to The Asian Age on Thursday.

On the other hand, students and scholars who were prepared to travel abroad with the Prime Minister Fellowship have come under untoward circumstances because of the order issued on nullifying the above fellowship out of the blue. Some of the recipients of this fellowship have meanwhile secured visas. They were supposed to start their academic programs in foreign universities from September 2024.

However, officials from the Governance Innovation Unit at the interim government's Chief Adviser's office have told reporters that decisions would be made soon about the next course of action regarding this fellowship and it will be notified to mass media.

A good number of students, teachers and government officials used to travel abroad with the Prime Minister Fellowship during the previous years to attend masters or PhD courses. Nevertheless, relevant sources have informed that a broad scale of nepotism and politicization polluted the selection process of picking up candidates for the Prime Minister Fellowship program during ousted Premier Sheikh Hasina's regime.

Allegations show that many students with brilliant academic qualifications, high English language proficiency and big scores on different English language tests and accomplished research papers were brushed aside by the immediate past Awami League regime whereas applicants who were recommended by the ruling party's hierarchy were given preferences in a totally unauthorized way. Thus the above fellowship program was marred with complaints and controversies over irregularities, discrepancies and total absence of integrity and transparency, according to reports from reliable sources.