NGO Astha sets up higher education scholarships for children with disabilities

NGO Astha, which is behind several initiatives like wheelchair tennis for adults and children across India, has announced a scholarship to support children with disabilities. The scholarship is to support their goals for higher education.

Students who are studying in Class 9 and above can apply and the last date is February 20, 2018. The selection of deserving students will take place on 20 March, 2018 and this scholarship is for the academic year 2018-2019. Those selected will also get the opportunity of being mentored so they are able to achieve their goals.

“The idea of the scholarship came about after looking at the limited career choices available to children with disabilities after class 10”, says Sunil Jain, Founder Trustee and Chief Enabler, NGO Astha.

“We think we should create a very powerful ecosystem to enable children with disabilities to take on any stream of education. This is our first step towards that”. – Sunil Jain Founder, NGO Astha

The situation in India is such that children with disabilities are not given the freedom to choose what
they want to study for higher education. Astha aims to do one-on-one interviews with all the applicants to understand their aspirations and look at generating whatever support they need to study the subject of their choice.

“We are not restricting the number of kids. We have a budget of Rs 5 lakh and we will select the candidates after reviewing all the applications. Preference will be given to kids who are financially challenged” – Sunil Jain

Children from across India can apply for the scholarship and there are no specific disabilities that it caters to. The only preference is that candidates should dream big and be willing to take on the challenge of breaking stereotypes, says Jain.

Applications can be obtained by sending an email to celebratelife@astha.in or calling 9845063334.

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