“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela, one of the greatest revolutionist the world has ever known.
Though women are breaking all the boundaries that exists on earth, but there are hurdles which are blocking their way to their goals. In order to find out the problem and to solve it, plenty of researches have been processed by the government of India. Finally, they found out that by providing scholarships can help women to pursue their higher education and achieve their dreams to cause an overall improvement of the society.
In the year 1925, the program of Mid-day meal was introduced for the students in Madras Municipal Corporation area. Slowly, other states started taking over the idea and implementing it. Numerous government and non-governmental organizations have taken up steps to inspire the Indian women by providing financial aid in order to help them achieve their dreams of pursuing higher education and also getting employed.
Kiran Girls Scholarship
The Persistent Foundation conducts program named “Kiran Girls Scholarship” every year to sponsor scholarship to girls who are interested in pursuing a graduate degree in engineering in India, especially in computer science and information technology courses. The Foundation provides a fund of around 40,000 INR per annum to each girl whose family has an annual income of less than Rs.5 lakh. The scholarship facility is provided to those girls whose college resides in Pune, Nagpur, Goa, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
The girls those who have scored a minimum of 70% marks in their 10th & 12th standards are eligible for the scholarship. Similarly, the students opting for direct engineering admission after completion of their diploma course will help. Finally, if the candidate wants to pursue her education in Master’s degree in stream like M.Sc. Bioinformatics, M.Sc. Computer Science and Computer Applications with a scholarship, she must have scored a minimum of 60% in her graduation.
The candidate will be selected on the basis of three rounds of interview after applying through the portal. The other important thing is that she should have a score minimum of 55% marks every year without any backlogs in her college career and also have maintained the attendance rule, to receive the funds.
Tata Housing Scholarship
Every year, Tata Housing Scholarship sponsors financial support to girls who have completed their first year in Civil Engineering/ Architecture Courses or MBA in construction project management in India and are interested in pursuing further studies but needs financial aid to continue education from any institute around India. Tata Housing sponsors funds of around 60,000 INR which will be provided to only Indian female citizen those who have secured a minimum 50% marks in their first year and whose family income is less than Rs.3 lakh per annum.
The candidate must maintain her marks by securing 60% aggregate from second year to renew the funds. The first preference will be given to the candidates belonging to SC/ST categories. The application form must be filled offline by downloading the form from their website.
Fair & Lovely Scholarship
The Fair & Lovely Scholarship is sponsored by FAL Foundation to girls between 15-30 years of age who wants to pursue education in India and whose family income is less than 4 lakh per annum.
The FAL foundation sponsors around 25,000 INR or more to girls who have completed 12th standard by securing a minimum of 60% marks in class 10th and 12th.
The candidate can select any one stream in which she wants to continue her education – BA, B.COM, BBA, BCA, B.Arch., BDS, BHMS, BAMS, B.Ed., B. Pharm, B.E/B.Tech, LLB and B.P.Ed. or the candidate can choose coaching classes on banking services, CA-CS-ICWA, CAT-MBA, civil services, government services, PMT-AIIMS-MBBS,IIT-JEE engineering, language-English communication from government recognized institute in India only.
Lady Meherbai D Tata Education Trust scholarship
Ratan Tata sponsors Lady Meherbai D Tata Education Trust Scholarship to Indian girls by providing an opportunity to study abroad in the countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and other parts of Europe. The candidate must have completed her graduation from any recognized university in India with a remarkable academic record. The application form can be filled by the candidate by visiting the office.
An ideal woman candidate would be the one who wants to pursue her Master’s degree education from an abroad university on the fields such as social work, social sciences, education, education & welfare of children with special needs, empowerment of women, gender studies, child health – development and nutrition, health policy and health education, public health –community health services and reproductive health, Rural development work (with a focus on women and children),communication with development(with a focus on women’s issues),development studies.
UGC Scholarship
University Grant Commission sponsors postdoctoral fellowship to unemployed women who have completed their Ph.D. and wants to advance further on their research work in the streams like science, engineering and technology, humanities and social science.
The University Grant Commission Scholarship also offers about 50,000 INR per annum for a period of 5 years with hostel accommodation in the university. To avail this scholarship, the women must be an Indian citizen and not more than 35 years of age. The candidate must have secured 50% of marks in UG level and 55% of marks in PG level and the application must be filled through online procedure.
“Knowledge is power, Information is liberating, Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” – Kofi Annan, renowned Ghanaian Diplomat and the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize Winner.
To educate the society and generate an overall upliftment, the government along with various non-governmental organizations has come up with some scholarships to help women achieve their dreams, even though their financial condition doesn’t permit them. Apart from the scholarships mentioned above, there exists hundreds of other scholarships including – Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship, Santoor Women’s Scholarship, Adobe Research Women in Technology Scholarship, AICTE-Scholarship Scheme, Prabha Dutt Fellowship,UDAAN – A Programme ,KSCSTE Prathibha Scholarship Programme, L’Oreal India For Young Women in Science Scholarship, Swami Vivekananda Single Girl Child Scholarship, Sitaram Jindal Foundation Scholarship, Post-Graduate Indira Gandhi Scholarship ,Internshala Career Scholarship, Scientist Scholarship, Women Scientists Scheme.
“Real education enhances the dignity of a human being and increases his or her self-respect. If only the real sense of education could be realized by each individual and carried forward in every field of human activity, the world will be so much a better place to live in.” – A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, the former Indian President.
