Closer to their tech dreams: 276 students selected for Bharti Airtel scholarship

After the death of his father, Shikhar, who lives in Fatehpur, UP, had to grow up fast. A physical disability and mounting agricultural loans only added to this pressure. He focused on his education, and today, has been admitted to a computer science degree at National Institute of Technology, Karnataka. Thanks to the new Bharti Airtel Scholarship, his studies have been fully funded, and his dream to uplift his community using technology is more accessible.

Going beyond their original plan to award 250 students from across country, Bharti Airtel Foundation has given a full scholarship to 276 students pursuing technology courses at top 50 NIRF engineering institutions in India.

The students are from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Among them are Jharkhand-based Ashna Noor, who aspires to start an NGO for girls in her village, and Mohit Gangwar, who hopes to support his homemaker mother and father who suffers from paralysis.

Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice-chairman of Bharti Enterprises, says the scholarship stemmed from a desire to expand the foundation's work in education. "When we were thinking about what we should look at next, the idea that came to my mind was that there are so many children who don't pursue higher education because their parents have financial constraints. The gross enrollment rate for technology-related higher education is hardly 30%," he says.

As many as 22% of this year's Bharti scholars are girls. "We have been focused on bringing more girls into higher education because that is something that has been missing for a long time. When we're talking of a country which wants to take a leadership role in technology globally - in space, in semiconductors, in renewable energy - why should the girls be left behind," asks Mittal.

The foundation has long worked on education, from launching 164 rural Satya Bharti Schools to a 'Quality Support Programme' that has helped 1,000 schools improve infrastructure and technology access. Speaking of the importance of philanthropic interventions in education sector, Mittal says, "If you're educated, your life, your family, your future generation and the country benefits."
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