Vodafone Idea Foundation gives scholarships to teachers and students in Maharashtra

Maharashtra: Vodafone Idea Foundation, the CSR arm of Vi, announced the results of its Vodafone Idea Scholarship 2021 and distributed scholarships of Rs. 1 Lakh each to 15 teachers and Rs. 20 thousand each to 221 students across the state of Maharashtra.
 
The Vi CSR Scholarship initiative aims to bridge the social and fiscal divide that teachers and students face in terms of availability and accessibility to the necessary resources that help them to excel. Last year, 200 teachers and 2500 students were rewarded with scholarships which they used for necessary resources teaching and learning.
 
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about massive changes to the education system. Teachers and students were used to the traditional teaching methods using notebooks, blackboard, chalk, etc. However, had to overnight rapidly adapt to the new age digital teaching methods. Vi CSR scholarship programme provides aid to teachers and students who can use the resources to facilitate e-learning and enable them to build an environment of digital learning.  The programme commends the grit and determination that they have shown in these unprecedented times.
 
Speaking on the initiative, P. Balaji, Chief Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited said “Vi is committed to leverage its technology expertise and network to create social impact at scale. Focused on taking learning and education to financially constrained communities and rural population, we developed digital tools to enable accessibility education for both teachers and students. In times of the pandemic, our scholarship programme is helping students and teachers get resources to invest in technology tools and their education. Some of the teachers have pooled the funds to digitalize an entire classroom to engage their students, further widening the reach of the programme. We believe this will go a long way in spreading the light of education and further enhance employability of people, thereby also reducing poverty in the country.”
 
One of the recipients of the Vodafone Idea 2021 Scholarship, Hanmant Bhimrao Mhetre, teacher from Sangli, Maharshtra said “ I am very thankful to Vodafone Idea Foundation for selecting me. In this pandemic, your scholarship will be definitely helpful & inspirational in various technical Aids, I.C.T. tools & impressive teaching methods. It will be very helpful to make our students learn effectively. Since the school that I work with is from rural area the scholarship will overcome all the hurdles in learning process which were occurring due to modern technical Aids & make learning process very effective. I am determined to contribute in this educational process.”
 
Prashant Babanrao Khandagale, teacher from Maharashtra said “I am very much thankful to Vodafone- Idea group to select me for teacher’s scholarship. In last few years, I was suffering problems in online teaching learning process, as my school is not updated for it. Also most of our students belong to economically lower class & from slum areas. Due to illiteracy, they are not getting proper encouragement from their families. As there is no availability of digital classroom in my school, I was forced to use private classroom to exhibit my ideas. Vodafone- Idea scholarship has offered me a great platform to enhance & enrich my innovative ideas. With the help of scholarship amount, I am able to use smart phone & laptop to share curricular activities with students & also students can share their skilled work with me. This work will be updated time to time with Vodafone- Idea platform.”
 
One of the student recipients Vaishnavi S Bhavsar from Nashik, Maharashtra, said “I am Vaishnavi .S. Bhavsar and I am studying in the 9th Standard. I received scholarship from Vodafone Idea Limited for the year 2020. The selection criteria for scholarship a great experience, they asked me about my past performance in academics and extra-curricular activities. There was also a video interview where I had to face few questions regarding my studies.
Due to the pandemic that we all are going through, it is usually difficult to manage finances. Since the past year my classes have been virtual, I had a phone but it had many issues and the connectivity was unstable. Getting an android phone is quite difficult in such times.
I really owe my sincere gratitude to Vodafone Idea Limited for giving me an opportunity to be a part of the process and selecting me, as this will help me get a new phone which will allow me to give my 100% in my boards.”
 
Launched last year, these scholarships entitle teachers as well as students to access Direct Beneficiary Transfer (DBT) covering a list of permissible expenses. The scholarships are on merit based for teachers and merit-cum-means based for the students. The selection process is entirely online, overseen by an independent jury, including eminent educators, representatives of civil society organizations.
 
The current edition of Students’ and Teachers’ Scholarship has been won by 1000 students and 110 teachers from the states of Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Manipur, Nagaland, Pondicherry, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and West Bengal.
 
Vodafone Idea’s CSR conducts transformative programmes in the domain of Education, Agriculture, Women Empowerment and Technology across different pockets of India.