Ajai Chowdhry, founder of HCL, has recently unveiled an endeavor to shape India’s future talent. Through his family trust, the Swayam Charitable Trust, Chowdhry has introduced the ‘Aspire Scholarship’ initiative. This programme is dedicated to supporting aspiring engineers who encounter financial barriers in their pursuit of higher education, according to an official release.
With a substantial allocation of Rs 100 million over the initial three years, the Trust is committed to empowering up to 84 scholars by offering comprehensive financial assistance throughout the entirety of their academic journey. The primary goal is to extend a helping hand to those students who are diligently working towards transforming their aspirations into reality. The Aspire Scholarship goes beyond covering tuition fees; it also includes the provision of hostel and mess fees, ensuring that the selected students receive full support during their entire educational programme, the release mentioned.
“This scholarship aims to assist aspiring engineers, who are essential to India’s future growth and help them participate and contribute to India’s growth story. We have the youngest population in the world today. If we don’t make the most of the talent we have, if we don’t support bright minds and help them overcome obstacles today, we will be left far behind in this race for technological supremacy,” Ajai Chowdhry, founder EPIC Foundation, co-founder HCL and founder trustee, Swayam Charitable Trust, said.
The Aspire Scholarship will be extended to students hailing from 10 engineering institutes across India. These institutions include Indian Institutes of Technology (located in Kharagpur, Hyderabad, Patna, Delhi, Bombay and Goa), as well as Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology in Delhi, Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee International Institute of Information Technology in Naya Raipur, Jabalpur Engineering College and National Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology in Ranchi, as per the release.
Over the next three years, the Swayam Charitable Trust aims to identify and select 28 outstanding scholars annually from the first-year B.Tech batches at the 10 engineering institutes in India, it added.