Bhubaneswar: The Sarojini Damodaran Foundation set up by SD Shibulal, Co-founder of Infosys, is inviting applications for its Vidyadhan Scholarship programme.
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.
Those selected will be eligible for 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. For more details Please write to vidyadhan.odisha@sdfoundationindia.com or contact 7978467808.
The scholarship, initiated for meritorious economically weaker students who come from families with an annual income below Rs 2 lakh had been started since 2018. Till date, more than two hundred students from various districts of the State have been included in this programme.
Vidyadhan is the flagship higher education scholarship program of the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives.
Students will receive scholarship from XI grade to the completion of their undergraduate degree (for 5 to 7 years), 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 financial support starting from Standard-XI till they complete graduation in a degree of their choice. Vidyadhan focuses on the holistic development of the students, equipping them with the life skills and employability skills which will 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 in higher education remains at a lowly 18.5% in comparison with the national average of 27.8%. The ambitious target of 30% GER taken by the Government cannot be fulfilled by just establishing new institutions. The per capita funding received from Education Ministry, 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 programme 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. Nearly 90% of these applications were from students studying in government and government-aided schools.
