Vidyadhan Scholarship Applications Invited
Bhubaneswar: The Sarojini Damodaran Foundation set up by S.D Shibulal, Co-founder of Infosys, is inviting applications for its Vidyadhan Scholarship program. The scholarship, initiated for meritious economically weaker students who come from families with an annual income below rupees two lakhs had been started since 2018. Till date more than two hundred students from various districts of the State have been included in this program.
Vidyadhan is the flagship higher education scholarship program of the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives. Students will receive scholarship from XIth 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 MHRD, Govt 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. Nearly 90% of these applications were from students studying in government and government-aided schools.
Students who have passed their SSLC /10th examination this year 2020 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 Sep 15th, 2020.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 [email protected] or contact 7978467808.