SIEMENS joins hands with Maharishi Patanjali Education Group to lend scholarship support to engineering students
“It is hard to beat a person who never gives up.”
Similar is the story of around 130 odd students from all over India who have fought against all odds to secure a place at some of the most prestigious engineering colleges in the country. A day’s wage of a father of such children can only feed the mouths; imagine the level of hard work it must have needed to save for education. These children belong to very humble backgrounds. Daily wage earners, vegetable vendors, washer men and every odd job are being done by the parents to see the day they had only dreamt of. It must have taken them forever to earn enough and get their children educated but the sheer determination of the children had always encouraged them to do more and work with zeal. And the result of their hard work was the success of their children.
Intervention
India being a developing country has a huge number of population which lives below the poverty line. Gathering the basic necessities is a struggle in itself for this population and education especially higher education becomes a distant dream for the children born in these households. Children from these types of background generally discontinue their education after 12th standard because of the lack of funds and support from parents. In an attempt to encourage more such hard working students and provide an opportunity to the students by felicitating their growth story Siemens Limited initiated the Siemens Scholarship in the year 2014 in the month of February.
Maharishi Patanjali Education Group associated in this novel cause with Siemens in the year 2015 again in the month of February. The online application for this scholarship starts from the month of August-September (this year it will start in July- August). All the children selected for this scholarship come from a background of merit-cum need basis and have to have a score of at least 50% and minimum 60% in the subjects of Physics, Chemistry and Maths. The role of Maharishi Patanjali Education Group is to get in touch with government engineering colleges at a Pan India level and co-ordinate with the eligible students and colleges. But applications are accepted from NITs located in North east region (for both girls and boys).
After conducting the due diligences a 50-50 ratio of deserving boys and girls are selected for the scholarships. More preference is given to the students of Jammu and Kashmir and the North Eastern states. But applications are accepted from NITs located in North east region (for both girls and boys). After conducting the due diligences a 50-50 ratio of deserving boys and girls are selected for the scholarships. More preference is given to the students of Jammu and Kashmir and the North Eastern states.
Project Highlights
So far three batches of students have been provided with the scholarship and 129 students in total; 20 students of the first batch, 59 students of the 2nd and 50 students of the 3rd have benefitted from this initiative.
Students from the streams of Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics/ Instrumental, Electronics and Telecommunications, Computers/ Information Technology are eligible for this scholarship.
Students who come from families whose annual incomes are not more than 2 lacs are eligible for this scholarship.
Internships are provided in the 3rd and 4th year during the summer vacations to the students to make them more careers focused.
Round the year counselling is provided to the students through telephonic conversations and email connects with the counsellors. Apart from academic developments the students are provided with personality development programmes, soft skill workshops etc to keep them at par with the ever growing developments.
Impact
My father does not understand English but he loves to hear me use it.
I want to improve the conditions that my parents live in. I am working towards it.
Our daughter is our strength and hope. She is the youngest in the family, but she motivates everyone”- Shashi’s mother. She can say this because Shashi has emerged a fighter in the midst of a lot of problems. Her mother is proud of her and so are her other family members.
