Presents scholarships to decrease dropout rates and promote higher education amongst students through the “Shiksha Maitree” programme

Mumbai: Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development (TCSRD) today organised a scholarship distribution event at Mithapur under the ‘Shiksha Maitree’ programme and awarded scholarships worth Rs 12 lakh to 507 meritorious students from Okhamandal. The event was conducted keeping COVID-19 protocol in mind. The scholarships were awarded by Mr N. Kamath, Vice President (Manufacturing) & Factory Manager- Tata Chemicals, in the presence of Mr Bhavsinh Vadher, District Program Education Officer (Dev Bhoomi Dwarka) who graced the occasion as the chief guest.

“We have a single-minded goal – to achieve zero dropouts. For this, we undertake various initiatives and remedies for basic learning issues like lack of infrastructure. We also assume a two-pronged approach of using traditional teaching methods by implementing need-based educational programmes and implementing initiatives that address the need of the hour like our ‘World on Wheels’ programme which was introduced this year to bridge the education gap and promote digital learning. The success of these programmes has served as our greatest source of inspiration in our endeavor to motivate students to complete their education,” said Mr N Kamath, Vice President Manufacturing & Factory Manager, Tata Chemicals.

Students pursuing their higher education in technical, professional and medical courses were eligible for this scholarship programme. Additionally, students pursuing Class 9 and above, under TCSRD’s Affirmative Action plan have also benefitted. A special scholarship for girls pursuing graduation courses was also awarded this year. Additionally, another special scholarship was given to students who had lost their parents to Covid-19 or to those whose parents had lost their livelihood to the pandemic. They were supported by 17 volunteers who paid the students’ entire school fees for the year.

TCSRD believes that social, economic and environmental development lies at the heart of transformation. Education is one of the most important pillars that aid this development and, TCSRD has been conducting scholarship programs for over 40 years now. Earlier these scholarships were restricted to deserving and meritorious children of salt workers. However, recently under the “Shiksha Maitree” four projects – Buddy4Study, Higher Education, Affirmative Action and Desh Ko Arpan programmes were introduced to support students from various underprivileged groups from 43 villages in and around Okhamandal.