Srinagar, May: With a motive to help the bright and sharp minded students belonging from underprivileged families, Kashmir Education Initiative (KEI), a non-profit organization is offering scholarships to the students at three levels.
Besides, the organization has provided 1669 scholarships to the 228 orphan students from 2008-21.
The organization was founded in 2007-08 and since then has provided scholarships to hundreds of students belonging from the families of economically weaker sections.
According to the KEI board members, the organization has so far provided financial assistance to more than 2000 students of Higher Secondary, Undergraduate, Professional medical courses and Postgraduate levels.
One of the board members, Dr Khurshid-Ul-Islam said that KEI is only focusing on providing financial assistance to those intelligent students who belong from the economically weaker families.
He said, “KEI is a registered organization with the government of Jammu and Kashmir and government of India separately.”
“There are two reasons for having registration with both the local and central government. The registration part is done by the Jammu and Kashmir government and for the income tax matters; the organization has to be registered with the Ministry of Finance,” Khurshid said.
The KEI board member also said their accounts are audited every year by both the internal auditors and the income tax department.
“In the organization, we have a board of directors, who are all Kashmiri locals. All the boards of directors in the organization are volunteers who don’t take or earn a single penny from the KEI. In fact, every board member is expected to donate every month to the organization,” Khurshid said.
He further said that whatever money is being donated by the donors is being utilized for the welfare of the education of the poor students. “As of now, we don’t get any government grants or international grants.”
Talking about the types of scholarships being provided by the KEI, Khurshid said, “The first scholarships which we provide is for the students who have passed the 8th standard. For four year from 9-12, we provide them scholarships.”
He said that on the basis of their merit and economic conditions, every year we provide assistance to 200 students. “Our criterion is not only poverty but merit as well. We don’t take students who are not good at studies but those students who are studying well are keen to achieve something of their capacity.”
The board member further said, “KEI has two more programmes. One is called a UG Scholarship, this is for those students who qualify NEET or JEE like entrances. This year we have provided 35 such scholarships. Every year we provide scholarships to at least 30 students.”
Likewise, KEI has Postgraduate scholarships. “If any student is getting admissions in any course outside the county, we provide them around Rs 5 Lakhs as interest free loan. They all are only supposed to pay back once they start earning. So far we have provided such loans to nearly 20 students,” he said.
Current Programs
Under-Graduate Scholarship Program (UGS)
KEI's Undergraduate Scholarship Program (UGS) offers scholarships to students from financially challenged backgrounds who with their hard work excel in National level competitive tests like JEE NEET for Engineering, Medical and other professionals. Students pursuing MBBS, Engineering and Agriculture UG courses are supported under this program.
Post Graduate Scholarship (PGS)
KEI's Post Graduate Scholarship Program provides financial support for higher education to students during their postgraduate courses through merit cum means. Applicants who get accepted for pursuing post graduate courses in various streams like Science, Literature, Languages, Mathematics, Home Science etc at University of Kashmir, IUST and NIT are provided this scholarship through a well-defined selection process.
Career Counseling Programme (CCP)
The KEI management strives to encourage our students to seek admission in Institution of National Importance where admissions is being done through a stringent process and are always highly competitive but once admitted job prospects are guaranteed at various levels where an individual becomes highly useful for the community and society besides pulling out his own family out of difficult situations.
“Through a well-planned Career Counseling Programme KEI enlightens students and their parents about various career opportunities available and encourages them to opt for streams that are higher in demand in the job market both at National and global levels. We have success stories where our students made it to top notch institutions like Delhi Technical College, United World College and Ashoka University,” says KEI management.
Collaborative Programmes
KEI management says that it is making efforts to provide students assistance from all possible means to prepare them for life and mitigate their difficulties and help them realize their dreams. In this endeavor we collaborate with minded organizations and Institutions who are resourceful and have expertise in various fields—prominent among them is Kashmir Education Initiative USA.
Major Programs Run in Collaboration includes experimental learning and capacity building workshops, mentorship program, mentorship program, and mentorship program.
Learning and capacity building workshops program
In the experimental learning and capacity building workshops program, KEI says that the goal is to enable and equip its scholars with hands-on experience and offer competencies and skills like Problem-solving, Critical thinking, Communication, Persistence, Leadership, Stress-Management, Life-skill and Personality development. These 21 century educational skills boost the confidence of students and prepare them for global competition.
Mentorship program
Likewise, under the mentorship program, the organization believes that it is the cornerstone for its intervention and a distinguishing component of its offering. The highly ambitious students are linked with young professionals, undergraduate, postgraduate students and researchers who direct them towards their goal as well as becoming their overall guide, helping them hone their personalities.