The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) scholarship program, which aims to improve the education standards among the Muslim Ummah, has come to the forefront in providing financial assistance to poor students in countries where Muslims are in the minority despite the fact that these countries are fully-fledged members of the IDB.

“Such humanitarian support to improve the educational standards of the Muslim community has come as a great help to Indian Muslims with huge success rates in checking the drop-out rate of meritorious students having the ambition to pursue higher studies in professional courses,” said Amanullah Khan, chairman of the New Delhi based Muslim Education Trust (MET).

The MET is the counterpart of the IDB scholarship program in India which has so far awarded scholarship grants to more than 5,000 students since its inception in 1983.

Speaking to Arab News on Thursday in Riyadh, he said that the IDB in Jeddah aims to develop the potentialities of qualified Muslim students by providing much needed financial assistance.

“It is a tool for the improvement of the social and economic conditions of the Muslim community as a whole where the scholarship program aims to serve the purpose of community development in countries with Muslims in weak financial positions,” Khan observed.

Thus it checks the drop-out rate by awarding scholarship to meritorious students who are unable to pursue higher studies due to financial difficulties, he said.

He further said that this year 240 Indian students pursuing medical, engineering, management and law have been awarded with the scholarship. IDB initially provided 40 scholarships to India, but based on the huge success of the program, this number has been increased to 240 this year.

Khan noted that once the beneficiary student starts earning, he can begin returning the loan to MET.

“As the IDB does not take a refund, we extended the scholarship program to other students in the merit list under the MET scholarship in 1989, thus maximizing the assistance for needy students,” he stated.

He said that those who had benefitted from the IDB scholarships are spread all over the world including hundreds currently working in the Kingdom. He further said that the MET will soon host an IDB alumnus meet in Jeddah to inspire and motivate them to extend the benefits to the poor sections of society.

According to Khan, the IDB has also funded more than 400 schools in different parts of India.

On the eligibility criteria for IDB scholarship, he said that a student must have secured a minimum of 60 percent marks in English, Physics, Chemistry and Biology or Mathematics in the senior secondary examination; should not be aged above 24 years and not be a recipient of any other scholarship; and after benefiting from this scholarship he must undertake to serve the community.

The announcement for the scholarship is made on February or March of each year and granted at the commencement of the academic year in India, he said.