Eklavya Saksham Scholarship: Donate to Educate 100 First-Generation Learners

We are fundraising for a cause close to our hearts, and influenced by our lived experiences to bring a lasting change in the lives of young students belonging to underprivileged communities in India.

Here is what we have gathered - Millions of deserving students from Dalit, Adivasi, and other marginalized communities are shut out of higher education. This lack of opportunity traps them in poverty and limits their potential. Data from the NSSO 2014, indicates that enrolment in college education for Dalits is 20.8% and for Adivasis, is 15.7 %. Their presence is even bleaker in premier universities as out of 10 top universities in India students from Dalit and tribal groups are underrepresented in 7 universities (All India Survey on Higher Education 2018-19).

Higher education is a tool for social transformation plays an important role in enhancing the knowledge and skills of people, and is a primary engine of upward mobility. But generations of Dalit, Adivasi, Nomadic tribes, and other marginalized communities remained deprived of higher education and its benefits. It resulted in limited career opportunities and a lack of representation in influencing leadership positions in different spectrums for them.

Eklavya India Foundation is working to change this. Our mission is to facilitate a successful career transition of 20000 first-generation students through admission into world-class higher education institutes by 2030.

We are working to improve access to quality higher education among first-generation students from marginalized communities by providing career awareness, exposure, mentoring, and coaching to enable students to pursue higher education from top universities and open their pathways for modern careers. In the last 7 years, over 1200 students secured admission into top universities like TISS, Azim Premji University, IITs, Delhi University, Pune University, and Central Universities. Over 300+ alumni have been placed in white-collar jobs multiplying their family incomes by 8-10X and bringing their families out of poverty.

We realize that financial hurdles block deserving students from achieving their potential. it is important to encourage these students to pursue higher education through scholarship support.

Therefore, the Eklavya Saksham Scholarship provides this need-based financial support to socially and economically marginalized students to cover their college fees and living costs to complete their undergraduate education.

This Year, we're raising funds to empower 100 deserving first-generation college-going students (undergrad & postgrad) in diverse fields like Arts, Sciences, Law & Public Policy at prestigious universities like DU, JNU, TISS, Azim Premji, Ashoka & more for 2024-25.

The scholarship need per student is as follows:

• Annual tuition fee: INR 10000
• Monthly living expenses including food and accommodation: INR 6000 (at least for an initial 3 months for each student.

Per student - 10,000 (Annual tuition fees) + 18,000 (living cost for 3 months) = 28000

For 100 students = INR 28,00,000

Plus, Administrative overheads for the operation of the scholarship = INR 2,00,000

Total amount = INR 30,00,000

You can support any of the above purposes through one-time or recurring donations! 

The fund will be collected from the Eklavya Scholarship Fund and distributed to the needy students. Eklavya will report the utilization of their fund to individual donors. Donations are exempted from the tax under 80G. Eklavya will provide 80G receipts to donors after their donations.