2 minute read 28 Oct 2020
EY Foundation Student Scholarship program

How EY is enabling access to quality education for underprivileged students

By EY India

Multidisciplinary professional services organization

2 minute read 28 Oct 2020
Related topics Corporate responsibility

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  • EYF Disha Scholarship program coffee table book

Here’s Ajay’s story who has benefitted from the EY Foundation Scholarship program.

Ajay Kumar was in eighth standard when his father left the family, while his mother was in hospital for a stomach ailment. To make ends meet, Ajay found a cleaning job in a hotel where he worked after school. He also started selling vegetables, fruits, CDs, DVDs and bus-passes to earn extra income for his family. Yet, he completed his Class X with a score of 84% and decided to discontinue his education to find a full-time job to support his family.

However, destiny had different plans for Ajay. He got selected for the EY Foundation Scholarship program – DishaEY, which sponsors academically bright but financially underprivileged children passing out of Class X from government schools until their graduation. Started in 2007, the program funds education expenses of students and provides them training in communication and soft skills to make them employment ready.

With the support from EY Foundation, Ajay completed his Diploma in Computer Science from a Polytechnic in Bangalore and secured his first job with a leading IT company in Bangalore in 2013.

Watch this video to learn more about Ajay’s story and many more students who have benefitted from EY Foundation Scholarship program.

About EY Foundation Scholarship program

The Scholarship program supports education of academically bright students from humble backgrounds from the class XI till graduation in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Along with financial assistance, an integral part of the program is one-to-one mentoring provided by EY people.  

The program is open for students with minimum 80% in Class X (75% for differently abled students) studying in low-cost private schools, private schools under economically weaker sections (EWS) quota, government-aided schools and whose family income is below INR 3 lakhs per annum. 50 percent of the seats in the program are reserved for girls.

Over the last 13 years, the program has helped change lives of over 10,000 students from underprivileged backgrounds.

Through EY Ripples, our Corporate Social Responsibility employee volunteering program launched in 2019, the students are provided ‘one-to-one coaching’ and ‘group mentoring’. EY people volunteer for at least a year to guide student(s) in developing the right-mind set, provide career guidance, and share valuable knowledge and experience. Through ‘group mentoring’ sessions, students are mentored on pre-defined topics, which are crucial for their growth and development.

The Scholarship program supports education of academically bright students from humble backgrounds from class XI till graduation. Over the last 13 years, the program has helped change lives of over 10,000 students from underprivileged backgrounds.

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  • Read success stories of distinguished EY Foundation scholarship program scholars from across the country

Summary

EY Ripples is anchored in a long-term goal to positively impact one billion lives by 2030, by focusing the skills and experience of thousands of EY employees.

About this article

By EY India

Multidisciplinary professional services organization

Related topics Corporate responsibility