Ignite: College and Diploma Scholarships |
OPEN provides college/diploma scholarships for about 100 children annually through the IGNITE scholarship program. The children in this program come from poor backgrounds, with family monthly incomes of Rs.8000 on average. In spite of the financial hardship, these children average about 85% in their Higher Secondary school completion exams. Most of them are the first in their family to go to college or polytechnic. A total of over 800 children have been sponsored by OPEN thus far. Note on program history: This scholarship program was started by Sushila Joseph, Sathya Nagaraj and Meenakshi Sudarshan who founded their own NGO, IGNITE. OPEN was one of the funders of IGNITE, and eventually the IGNITE founders became part of OPEN and the scholarship program is now run by OPEN. Meenakshi Sudarshan is still heavily involved in running the program, together with Sashikala Krishna, Sridhar Sockalingam and Vidya Sridhar. Program details OPEN sponsors children mainly for degree programs that enable them to enter the workforce soon after completion of their studies; programs such as:
Admission guidelines We accept applications in person at our Counselling sessions - a schedule may be obtained by contacting us at contact@openindia.org. Alternatively, completed application forms in MS Word and Excel format may also be e-mailed to us at contact@openindia.org, but we still require a personal interview at our counselling sessions. All information below must be provided at time of application.
Program workflow
Academic Year 2022-23 Results
Academic Year 2021-22 Results
Academic Year 2020-21 Results
Academic Year 2019-20 Results
Academic Year 2018-19 Results
Academic Year 2017-18 Results
Academic Year 2016-17 Results
Academic Year 2015-16 Results
Success Stories
Family Backgrounds The average family income of these students is INR 8000 per month. Students typically come from blue-collar backgrounds, and are the first in their families to go to college. The photos below, taken during needs verification, show one family living in a single-room home and another one in a home with asbestos siding and thatched roof. Impact of personality development classes The video below shows one of the children who came to our career counseling sessions in Feb-March 2016. The children were coached in resume-writing, interviewing, and public speaking, and on general career options for their particular skills.
Interview Preparation The video below shows one of the children who came to our career counseling sessions in late 2018 going through a mock interview.
IGNITE program co-ordinators
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