The name of the Association shall be “The Bangladesh Psychological Association (BPA).”

Objectives :
The objectives of the Association shall be:

  • To devise ways and means for the promotion of psychology as an academic discipline and as a profession.
  • To lay down the academic standards and code of professional ethics for psychologists working is different areas in Bangladesh.
  • To adopt, in the light of the spirit of the Liberation War, measures for applying psychology to the solution of individual and social problems and to the promotion of national objectives.
  • To hold conferences, seminars, symposia and exhibitions from time to time.
  • To render expert advice to the Government and other organizations on matters of national importance and encourage research in these areas.
  • To enlist the support of the Government, public bodies, other organizations and private individuals for the efficient working of the Association and fulfillment of its objectives.
  • To publish research papers and other matters of academic interest.
  • To highlight the uses of Psychology in different walks of life and to approach the Government and other organizations to utilize the services of trained Psychologists.
  • To collaborate with Psychological Associations and Societies of other countries and international Congress of Psychology for the advancement of Psychology as a science.
  • To issue certificates of qualifications of Practicing Psychologists in the various applied fields of Psychology.

Membership
In order to be eligible for the membership of the Association, a person shall have to fulfill the following conditions:
General Membership (Eligibility and Subscriptions) :

  • Must have at least a Master’s or Honors degree in Psychology or its equivalent or PhD degree in any branch of Psychology. [Note: Equivalence of degree shall be decided by the Central Executive Committee.]
    1. To become a general member, one must subscribe Tk.00 (entry  fee Tk. 200.00 and annual subscription of Tk. 300.00).
  • Every general member must have paid a sum of Tk. 00 (Taka three hundred) only as annual subscription.
  • The final decision regarding membership shall be taken by the    Central  Executive Committee.

Life-Membership :
Any person having qualifications as mentioned under Clause 3 (a) may become a life member on payment of Tk. 5000.00 (Taka five thousands) only at a time.

Associate Life-Membership :
Persons having at least a Bachelor degree or a Master’s degree in subjects allied to Psychology may become an Associate Life-Member of the Association upon approval of the Central Executive Committee on payment of Tk. 3000.00 (Taka three thousands) only at a time.

Honorary Life-Membership :
The honorary life-membership may be conferred on any person who has rendered outstanding services to the cause of Psychology as an academic or professional discipline provided that such a decision has been taken by the Central Executive Committee by at least a two-third majority.

Foreign Affiliates :
Any foreign citizen having a degree in Psychology may be allowed by the Central Executive Committee to enroll as a foreign affiliate on payment of a sum of US$ 20 or its equivalent Taka annually.

Patrons :
Any person who has helped promote Psychology as an academic or professional discipline may, on the approval of the Central Executive Committee, become a patron of the Association.

Rights and privileges of different members :
Rights and privileges of Members, Life-Members, Associate Life-members, Honorary Life members, Foreign Affiliates and Patrons:

  • General Members and Life Members as mentioned under Clauses 3  (a) and 3 (b) shall have the following rights in addition to right to vote on all such matters as are hereinafter provided. Besides, they will have the right to get a Membership Code Number being jointly signed by the President and the Secretary General of the Association.
  • All persons mentioned under Clauses 3 (c) to 3 (f) shall have the right to : (a) be invited to the meetings of the Association; (b) submit papers to the conferences of the Association and take part in the discussion of papers read; (c) receive proceedings of the annual/triennial sessions of the Association; (d) receive publications of the Association

General Body of the Association :

  • The members as mentioned under Clause 3 (a) and 3 (b) of the constitution shall constitute the General Body of the Association.
  • The General Body shall perform the following –

(a)pass the budget of the Association and approve the account of expenditure duly audited;
(b) elect the office bearers and executive members of the Central Executive Committee;
(c) meet at the time of annual Conference/Session every year, if necessary. Notice shall be served and date & time be fixed at least one month ahead of the general meeting. New leadership of the Central Executive Committee shall be elected/nominated in the third annual/triennial general meeting of the Association;
(d) consider all such matters as fall within its purview.
(e) The quorum for the meetings of the General Body shall be one-fifth of the total members enrolled.
(f) The extraordinary/requisition meetings of General Body may be convened by the President or by a written request from at least one-third of the total members enrolled. The quorum of such a meeting shall be one-fifth of the total members enrolled.

Central Executive Committee :
The management of the Association shall vest in a Central Executive Committee consisting of the following :

  • One President.
  • Three Vice-Presidents (Seniority would be indicated by serial number 1-3).
  • One Secretary General
  • One Treasurer
  • One Organizing Secretary
  • One office Secretary
  • Three (3) Executive Members
  • Presidents and General Secretaries of the Administrative/ Organizational Divisional Executive Committees respectively shall be included as Executive Members of the Central Executive Committee, and
  • Presidents and General Secretaries of the Executive Committees of the Academic Branch-wise Societies shall be included as Executive Members of the Central Executive Committee

Powers and Functions of the Central Executive Committee :

  • On approval of the Central Executive Committee there shall be a Regional Committee in each Administrative/Organizational Division and a `Society’ under each Academic Branch of Psychology.
  • The Central Executive Committee shall fix the date and time of the annual general meeting, triennial session and Psychology Conference respectively.
  • The Central Executive Committee shall take necessary initiatives for contacting foreign Psychological Associations. Any matter relating to foreign countries shall be acted upon and decided by the Central Executive Committee.
  • The Central Executive Committee, Executive Committees of the regional committees and Executive Committees of the branch Societies shall prepare their own budget and submit it to their annual/triennial meeting of the General Body and shall take all such decision as are hereinafter provided.
  • Election of the Regional Executive Committee shall be held under the supervision of the Central Executive Committee of BPA within 90 days after assuming office of the new Central Executive Committee elected at the triennial session of the BPA. For the convenience of forming full-fledged Regional Committee a 7-member `Convening Committee’, first of its kind, consisting of one-convener, one-member secretary and five members, can be constituted.
  • Structure of the Regional Committee shall be as follows : President, Vice-President, General Secretary, Treasurer, Organizing Secretary, Office Secretary and 5 or 7 or 9 Executive Members; i.e., total number of Executives in the Regional Committee shall be either 11 or 13 or 15.
  • Regional/Divisional Committees shall be named after Dhaka Committee, Rajshahi Committee, Khulna Committee, Chattagram Committee etc and Academic Branch Committees shall be named as `Society’. Regional Committees and Societies will conduct their activities in coordination with the Central Executive Committee.
  • A bank account shall have to be opened by each regional/divisional committee/society for smooth operation of their financial and other activities. Bank account shall have to be operated jointly with one signature from either President or General Secretary and the other one must be of the Treasurer. Central Executive Committee will monitor and ensure such action be taken by the Regional Committee/Society.
  • Every Regional/Divisional Committee and Society will get 20% of the membership fees, collected by them from the newly proposed membership, on approval of Central Executive Committee and amount payable will be remitted to their respective bank account through cheque.
  • The tenure of the Regional Committee/Divisional Committee and Branch Society shall be, like the Central Executive Committee, for three years from assuming the office. Election of the Regional Committee/Divisional Committee and Branch Society will be held on the basis of one-member one-vote. Casting of vote through representative will not be allowed.
  • No Executives, elected in the Central Executive Committee of BPA, shall be allowed to contest for any post of the Regional Committee/Divisional Committee and Branch Society.
  • Separate list of voters shall be prepared before the election of each Regional Committee/Divisional Committee and Branch Society.
  • Member(s) transferred to another region/division on grounds of work shall be allowed to participate in the election of Regional Committee/Divisional Committee upon submission of proper documents.
  • Separate `Society’ shall be formed for each Branch of Psychology on approval of the Central Executive Committee. Societies will have to conduct their activities in accordance with the conditions stated as under :

1. General Body of the Societies will be consisted of all the members enrolled under each Society.
2. President and General Secretary of each Society will be included as Executive Members of the Central Executive Committee of BPA. But, no member of the Society will have the right to be elected/nominated as President or General Secretary of the Society, if he/she is not a General Member or a Life Member of BPA.
3. Academic branch-wise Societies will have to obtain registration under a relevant Professional Division of BPA.
4. Each (academic branch-wise) Society can have a separate constitution of its own. But the constitution of the Society, in no way, shall have any clause which is conflicting with the constitution of BPA.
5. No Psychologists will have the right to practice in Bangladesh as an Expert-Psychologist in a particular area unless he/she received a certificate of Practicing Psychologist from the concerned `Certification Authority’ formed/approved by the Central Executive Committee of BPA.

  • Quorum :
    The quorum of a meeting of the Central Executive Committee shall be formed by one-fourth of its members

Functions of the Office Bearers of the Central Executive Committee :

President :

  • The President shall usually preside over all the meeting of the Central Executive Committee and of the General Body.
  • In carrying out the activities of the Association, the President shall advice all the office bearers including the Secretary General.
  • The President shall have a casting vote in case of a tie.

Vice-President :

  • In the absence of the President, the 1st Vice-President shall perform all functions of the President. In the absence of the President and the 1st
  • Vice-President, 2nd Vice-President shall perform all functions of the President. The seniority shall be determined according to the serial order of
  • the Vice-Presidents, in case a post of Vice-President falls vacant.

Secretary General :
The Secretary General shall perform the following functions:

  • As the spokesman of the Association, he shall convene all meetings of the Association in consultation with the President.
  • He shall maintain all communications and letter correspondence regarding the activities of the Association.
  • Keep minutes of the meeting of the Central Executive Committee and such other meetings as are held under the auspices of the Association.
  • Maintain correspondence with the members of the Association.
  • Consult with the President before taking all significant decisions.
  • Report to the Central Executive Committee all such matters as fall within his purview.

Treasurer :

  • The treasurer shall be the custodian of the funds of the Association and shall deal with the Bank and shall maintain all income-expenditure accounts of the Association.
  • Any transaction above Tk. 5000/- (Five thousand) shall be made through bank cheque.
  • He shall pay the bills of the Association after obtaining the approval of the President.
  • He shall see to it that all matters relating to the funds of the Association are dealt with according to the rules and regulations laid down by the General Body of the Association.
  • The Treasurer shall submit the draft budget to the General Body and the Central Executive Committee.

Organization Secretary :
The Organizing Secretary shall perform duties relating to organizational matters of the Association and shall maintain all kinds of liaison with the members of the Association working as Psychologists in various institutions of the country.

Office Secretary :
The Officer Secretary shall preserve all the records/documents of the Association and shall assist the President and Secretary General in exchanging information of the Association. Additionally, the Office Secretary shall maintain lists of all General Members and Life Members of the Association.

Election :

Procedure of Election :

  • At the conclusion of the business meeting of the General Body, an Election Commission comprising three members of the Association, provided that they are not candidates for any post (s), shall be constituted by the House, and one of them shall work as the Chief Election Commissioner.
  • Any member of the General Body can propose as many names as there are posts, and proposal shall have to be duly seconded by another member of the General Body.
  • Consent of the members whose names have been proposed shall be required.
  • A member whose name has been proposed for any post shall have the right to withdraw his candidature.
  • Not more than one post shall be contested by a member.
  • The office bearers of the Association may be selected on the basis of consensus of the General body. But, in the absence of consensus, the election will be held by secret ballots.

Tenure :
The tenure of office of the Central Executive Committee shall be for three years with effect from the date of its assumption of office.

Head Quarters :
The Head Quarters of BPA shall be situated in Dhaka. The Central Executive Committee shall make necessary financial arrangement to set-up a permanent Head Quarters of BPA at a suitable place in Dhaka. Until the Head Quarters of BPA is being set-up, The Central Executive Committee, at its first meeting, will decide the location of the Head Quarters for the next three years.

Accounts of the Association:

  • An Account shall be opened in the name of the Association in a reputed Bank located near the Head Quarters of the Association and all receipts of the Association shall be deposited in the said account.
  • The account shall be opened with the joint signature of the Treasurer and the President/the Secretary General. However, the bank account will be operated jointly with the signature of the Treasurer and any one of the President or the Secretary General.
  • All items of income and expenditure shall be duly recorded by the Treasurer and he shall get it audited after every year through appointing an Audit Firm.
  • The total amount of any grant or donation received for any specific project shall be spent on that particular project strictly in terms of that grant or donation.

Amendments of the Constitution:

All proposals for an amendment to any part or parts of the constitution shall have to be duly proposed and seconded by the members of the Association. Such proposal should reach the Central Executive Committee before its last meeting to be held immediately before the holding of the annual meeting of the General Body. Upon receipt of such proposals, the Central Executive Committee shall bring it to the notice of all the members of the Association and shall place such proposals before the General Body at its annual/triennial meeting for disposal. Decisions in favour of the amendments shall require the approval of a two-third majority of the members present in the meeting.