Campaign update as at 1st September 2021:

Ray of Hope was updated by Ramisa with the good news that she has secured full-time employment, and her employer has applied for an S-Pass which has already been approved. Ramisa hopes to pay off the rest of her school fees by working full-time.

She also updated us about the change in her course. She would be enrolling in the part-time Bachelor of Science in Computer Science under the University of Essex, instead of Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Media Studies and Journalism (Double Major). She would be joining the December 2021 intake.

Her course fees are at $24,610 (inclusive of Bridging Course $535), payable as follow:

1. 1st instalment due in December 2021 – $4,012.50
2. 2nd instalment due in March 2022 – $4,012.50
3. 3rd instalment due in June 2022 – $4,012.50
4. 4th instalment due in September 2022 – $4,012.50
5. 5th instalment due in December 2022 – $4,012.50
6. 6th instalment due in March 2023 – $4,012.50

Payment will be made to the institution directly.

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My Name is Ramisa Tabassum, a 20-year-old Bangladeshi Citizen. I have been raised by my single mother. I have grown up seeing struggles and barriers; it is my dream to become an independent individual with a strong educational background, which is why I made a huge decision to leave my hometown and moving to Singapore 3 years ago. But it hasn’t been so easy. I wish to live a life with stability. I believe with the right opportunities, and I can move forward to a brighter future of giving my mother and sister an easy lifestyle. Being the eldest daughter, my sister only has me to look up to.

It took my mother and me a lot of courage and determination to be here. My mother being a single parent of two children, works numerous hours only to support and survive. We didn’t at any point, let our guards down, no matter how difficult our challenges were. When I was just about to graduate from polytechnic, COVID-19 came. My mother lost her job, and my part-time income paused.

In this foreign land, while my mother struggles with my 8-year-old Singapore Citizen sister who suffers from selective mutism, I am helplessly looking everywhere for a job. But there are far too many restrictions at this point with my nationality and foreign quota policies, and also to pursue my degree, the primary reason for me being here. I have been exploring all the options, especially finding a job because I don’t want to add on to my mother’s already straining expenses. I’ve come to find that Bangladeshi passport holders are not eligible for Work Permit under the service sector, and there is no quota for S-Pass at this moment.

Subsequently, I’ve checked with education centers, I have been informed being Bangladeshi, my guarantor (a family member) needs to provide a bank statement of $30,000 for me to enroll in the course, and the deadline is by mid-November. To us, that seems like a goal impossible to achieve. The Institution has also offered us an installment scheme on special consideration.

Just when I began to accept the reality of my financial struggles crushing my dreams, I can now finally say I see some Ray of Hope.

*Ramisa hopes to enroll in Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Media Studies and Journalism (Double Major), and the course fees are at $31,779. Payment of fees will be made to the institution directly.