Syngenta Asia Pacific, a leading agriculture company, has announced scholarships for five female students of Asian University for Women (AUW) in Chittagong for higher education.
The five students will be selected from the smallholder communities of India and Bangladesh, and Syngenta has pledged $375,000 for a five-year education program for them, said a press release.
Syngenta's scholarship program covers tuition, room and board, health coverage, textbooks, and supplies.
Recipients of the scholarship will be selected from interested students from rural farming communities based on their academic excellence and demonstrated leadership.
This initiative is an acknowledgement of women's significant economic contributions to agriculture and is aligned with Syngenta's commitment to expanding opportunities for women in rural areas, the release added.
As part of the five-year scholarship program, students will spend one year learning English under AUW's “Pathways for Promise” rubric.
They will spend the second year at Access Academy for further academic preparation for all core academic subjects. The last three years will be devoted to completing a US accreditation-eligible undergraduate program.
Pamela Gonzalez, head of Asia Group and APAC Diversity and Inclusion, said: “Rural women are key to achieving the transformational economic, environmental and social changes required for sustainable development.
“But limited access to credit, healthcare and education are among the many challenges they face, which are further aggravated by the global food and economic crises and climate change. Empowering them is key not only to the well-being of individuals, families and rural communities, but also to overall economic productivity, given women’s large presence in the agricultural workforce worldwide.”
“Syngenta and the Asian University for Women are empowering these rural women to become leaders of tomorrow with right access to quality education. I personally look forward to the possibilities of this scholarship with internship opportunities and more for these young students at Syngenta,” she added.
Syngenta Bangladesh Managing Director AMM Golam Towhid said: “Education is the fundamental right of every girl in Bangladesh. We are gradually advancing in this sector.
“However, active participation in the field of higher education for women is extremely challenging. Syngenta makes a munificent effort as they set to sponsor a scholarship program to improve the lives of smallholders in Bangladesh by facilitating their children's higher education especially in rural areas.”
“It will enable our female students from the farming community a chance to explore their possibilities and empower them to make contributions to the community,” he added.
Founder of the AUW Kamal Ahmad said: “Even in our small countries, we are separated by one divide after another: the poor vs the rich, those with access to power and privilege and those without.”
“In the midst of all of these divides, it is the rural-urban divide that is probably most decisive in predicting the future of those born across them. By dedicating scholarships to the daughters of landless agricultural workers, AUW joins Syngenta in lifting the curtain against that great divide and creating a pathway to discover and nurture the teeming talents that the tyranny of our divided societies otherwise suppress,” he added.
