PANAJI
As part of its efforts to celebrate Centre's Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav initiative, Aakash BYJU'S is offering free NEET and IIT-JEE coaching and scholarships to nearly 2,000 Class VII-XII female students from underprivileged families under its 'Education for All' project.
The students under the programme will be selected during the Aakash BYJU'S National Talent Hunt Exam (ANTHE) which will be held from November 5 to 13 across the country in both offline and online modes. The exam will consist of 35 multiple-choice questions that are based on grade and streams the students aspire. The duration for the exam is one hour, with ANTHE online being held between 10 am to 7 pm during all exam days and the offline exam being conducted on November 6 and 13 in two shifts from 10:30 am to 11:30 am and 4 pm to 5 pm. For further details, students can visit anthe.aakash.ac.in.
For identifying the beneficiaries, Aakash will partner with select NGOs who can nominate the candidates. However, only female students with single mothers are eligible to appear for the exam.
Speaking on the project, Aakash Chaudhry, the Managing Director of Aakash BYJU'S, said, "There are millions of students who cannot afford private coaching that can hugely further their chances of cracking the entrance exams. What compounds the issue of affordability is gender disparity, where families do not come forward to spend on educating girl students beyond a certain grade."
"These contexts lower the morale of the students from underprivileged communities and girls in general. Through 'Education for All' we are doing our bit to lift the scope and expand the opportunities of coaching for professional courses for these students," he added.
He pointed out that there will be no compromise on the quality of coaching offered to the beneficiary students.
"The idea is to convert each of our centre in Aakash BYJU’S fast expanding network as a centre of excellence not only in coaching but also in inclusivity and women empowerment. We are confident that this initiative will get an overwhelming response from poor families and the ones with a single girl child or a single parent or both," Chaudhry said.
The scholarships from 'Education for All' initiative are in addition to the regular ANTHE scholarships. As in the past, ANTHE 2022, the 13th edition, will offer up to 100% scholarships to meritorious students - it will also offer cash prizes to top performers.
Besides, 5 students will also win a free trip to NASA along with a parent. Since its launch, ANTHE has offered scholarships to over 33 lakh students.
