CB BureauA partnership aimed at financially assisting deserving students with scholarships was announced between Vidyasaarathi, an education scholarship portal powered by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited (NSDL e-Gov), and JSW Foundation, part of the JSW Group, one of India’s largest conglomerates. This collaboration hopes to bridge the gap in education financing for students pursuing their graduation, post-graduation, ITI, diploma and B. Ed courses. They will now be able to avail of JSW Foundation’s Udaan Scholarship schemes listed on the Vidyasaarathi web portal. (https://www.vidyasaarathi.co.in/Vidyasaarathi/index)
The NSDL e-Governance spokesperson informs CauseBecause that the scholarships are for students whose family income is less than Rs 5 lakh annually. Right now, the number of scholarships and the amount have not been finalised. JSW intends to decide these numbers at the end of the application period. It also plans to continue this partnership for a minimum of five years.
Vidyasaarathi’s aim is to simplify the process of scholarship design, application and disbursement, thereby removing all administrative challenges faced by organisations in education funding. Since its launch in 2017, Vidyasaarathi portal has successfully registered more than 185,000 students, out of which 100,000 have applied for scholarships. It has already teamed up with corporates such as ACC Cements, Care Ratings, Thomson Reuters, Bhilwara Group, EdCil (Education Consultants of India), and Tata Housing to provide scholarships. It plans to expand by forming more partnerships with corporates and institutions and executing an extensive campus outreach.
The NSDL e-Gov team is responsible for the entire management of the scholarship programme. It is currently promoting the programme among the student community across India, including through the social media pages of NSDL e-Gov. After the application period is over, NSDL e-Gov will screen all the applications and shortlist the eligible ones. It has also set up a helpline to answer any query that students may have. Students can reach the NSDL e-Gov team via email: [email protected] or phone: 022- 4090 4484.
In the press release, Ashwini Saxena, COO, JSW Foundation, said, ‘We are firm in our conviction that only by enabling an educated nation we can bring in a revolutionary change in the society. JSW Foundation takes conscious steps to support and empower students around JSW plant sites to avail of these scholarships.’
Gagan Rai, CEO and MD, NSDL e-Governance, said, ‘Though education is a basic requirement, many deserving students are still forced to miss out on their further studies due to increasing tuition fees and lack of resources. With this joint initiative, we will be able to provide support to the economically weaker sections of our society.’