Vidyadhan Scholarship Aims To Provide Opportunities For Economically Challenged Students
The Vidyadhan Scholarship by the Sarojini Damodaran Foundation which was set up by S.D Shibulal, Co-founder of Infosys has been empowering students since its inception in 2018. This year it is inviting applications for the scholarship program which was initiated for meritorious and economically challenged students who come from families with an annual income below rupees two lakhs. Till date more than two hundred students from various districts of Odisha have been included in this program.
Vidyadhan is the flagship higher education scholarship program of the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives. Students receive scholarship from 11th grade till the completion of their undergraduate degree, with appropriate increase in the scholarship amount, provided the student keeps up academic performance and gets admission in the merit quota for future studies, including professional courses.
The selected students are provided the much necessary support till they graduate in a degree of their choice. Vidyadhan focuses on the holistic development of the students by equipping them with life skills and employability skills which help them to leverage the opportunities as well as tackle the challenges that will come their way in their professional journey.
Odisha’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education remains at a lowly 18.5% in comparison with the national average of 25.8%. The ambitious target of 30% GER taken up by the government cannot be fulfilled by just establishing new institutions. The per capita funding received from MHRD, Government of India, is one of the lowest for Odisha.
The patrons of the Foundation expect it to scale up to 10,000 students and 1,00,000 scholarships over the next seven to ten years. In addition to Odisha, the program is also operational in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat.
According to Kumari Shibulal, Founder and patron of the Foundation, last year over 700 applications were received from nearly all districts of Odisha. Almost 90% of these applications were from students studying in government and government-aided schools.
Students who have passed their SSLC /10th examination this year from Odisha with more than 80% (60% for students with disability) are eligible to apply for the scholarship. Applications can be done online by logging into www.vidyadhan.org or SDF Vidya App till September 15, 2020. Those selected will be eligible for a two year scholarship from the Foundation. If they continue to do well, they will be given scholarship for pursuing any degree course of their interest.