The father of a girl newly admitted to a medical college is very worried as he is unable to bear the expenses of her education.  

Sadika Barat, daughter of Suruzzaman of Mahishabaduria village in Sarishabari upazila of the district, was admitted to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College (SOMC) on October 22. Her classes will start on January 10 next year.

Sadika studied from Class VI to Class XII at local Bhatara School and College overcoming financial constraints. She secured GPA 5 (golden) in the JSC, SSC and HSC examinations.

Though her dream has apparently come true, Sadika faces a tough journey to make her future career successful due to poverty, said Jahangir Alam, principal of the college.

Suruzzaman has only one bigha of parental land with which to support his five-member family.

To overcome the hardship, he worked as a labourer in a textile-mill in Sylhet from 1982 to 2000, said Suruzzaman, adding that he could not give necessary support to his children's education with the money he earned from the job and the produce from his land.

Being determined to educate the children, he took another job in a garment factory as a security guard in Dhaka in 2006. With overtime, he was able to earn Tk 10,000 a month. But unfortunately, he was terminated from the job on October 1, Suruzzaman said.

After being sacked from the job, he faced problems to get his daughter admitted to SOMC for want of money required for the admission. Then he leased out his land to arrange the money.

"As I lost the job and leased out the land, I am in a fix as to how I can manage the high expenses for my daughter's medical education," he added.

He was able to educate his elder son Sohel up to MA in English while younger son Jewel is a student of Masters final-year in accounting at Anandamohan College, Suruzzaman added.