Bangalore: Emeritus, the global leader in making high-quality education accessible and affordable to individuals, companies, and governments worldwide, has announced a scholarship programme for young women through Vahani, an NGO dedicated to educating talented students from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds. Through this programme, INR 1 crore in scholarships will be provided to Vahani Alumnae to access Emeritus’ education programmes offered in partnership with world-class universities across technology, data analytics and digital marketing fields, as a gateway for women to enter into various industries of the economy.

According to the World Economic Forum, due to the lack of opportunities, 45% of women in India aged 15-29 years are not engaged in any education, employment, or training. This contrasts with only 6.5% of men. Access to upskilling and education programmes are critical to providing young women with the tools and skills to succeed in the workforce, opening up career and employment possibilities. Women’s education, training and upskilling is critical to the growth, society and economy of India as a whole. The increasing interest to undertake upskilling programmes to create future job opportunities is evident at Emeritus where over 40% of the learners across programmes are women and the company believes this number will continue to grow year-on-year.

Speaking about the scholarships for girl students, Ashwin Damera, Co-Founder and CEO, Emeritus said, “At Emeritus, we believe that education is transformational and we are on a mission to make it more accessible. We are proud to partner with Vahani, to help women across India learn new skills to unlock career opportunities and bridge gender gaps in skill training.”

The scholarship programme is an extension of Emeritus’ commitment to increasing access to education to marginalized and underserved communities. In 2021, Emeritus launched a partnership with Vahani which included individual scholarships and one-on-one mentorship for Vahani Alumni. Through this tie-up, Emeritus team members have been on boarded as Vahani Mentors, who provide one-on-one guidance to their mentees twice a month, thereby helping them choose better career paths.

Ms. Reeva Misra, Founder and Chairperson of Vahani Scholarship, started the NGO with a vision to create an India where the most gifted children could flourish, especially children from underserved socioeconomic backgrounds, religion or gender. Identifying a gap in the accessibility to quality higher education, Misra founded Vahani Scholarship to support the underserved. Vahani’ s mission is to build future leaders of change, fund the education of deserving women and children, and mentor and nurture them towards their holistic development. Vahani also conducts skill-building workshops, provides one-on-one mentorship, psychological counselling, English classes and assistance in procuring summer internships.