VIDYA NIDHI

VIDYA NIDHI, the Merit cum Means Scholarship Scheme has inspired the dreams of hundreds of underprivileged children. From its inception, Sanmarg has associated itself with the cause of Promotion, Protection and Fulfillment of Children's Rights To Education. Most of the children find themselves in critical situations through no fault of their own. If their needs are not addressed at the right time it perpetuates a generational cycle of poverty.

The endeavor of Sanmarg is to empower poor children and families, by helping them find practical and sustainable ways of lifting themselves out of the generational cycle of poverty. The best way to make this a reality is by ensuring that all children get the best possible start in life.Emphasizing on this basic principle we successfully initiated Vidya Nidhi, a non-residential children's aid and care project catering to the genuine poor needy children in and around the villages of Palakkad, a district in the state of Kerala in India. The core focus is to ensure that children who are good in studies never drop out due to lack of financial support or guidance.

The beneficiaries are selected through a very transparent and meaningful procedure. The selection is done on "Merit cum Means" basis. Volunteers of Sanmarg reach out to various educational institutions and low living areas to find the ideal candidates. Personal interviews are then conducted with the child and guardians. Merits and good conduct of the child is verified with the authorities of the educational institutions and the financial background also is thoroughly scrutinized. If found satisfactory on both counts the child is offered scholarship for an academic year. Based on the age and academic needs students are offered facilities like, School Fees, Uniforms, Textbooks, Notebooks, Bags, Tuitions, Entrance Coaching, Computer Training, Personality Development, Guidance and Counseling, etc.

Only those students who show real commitment and good progress in studies are considered to continue for the succeeding year. The performances of the students are well tracked by appraising the results that they achieve in the various exams during an academic year. Constant interaction with the teachers by the Sanmarg volunteers helps to keep track of the students' attendance and conduct.

The support we offer from their basic school level education leads them to grow and become Graduates or Professionals based on their individual merit and aspirations. The achievements of our beneficiaries who made it all the way to become Charted Accountants, Engineers, School Toppers, Rank Holders etc. goes to establish the fact that a helping hand and a guiding vision can ignite the achievers in them.

The list of achievers is on the rise with each passing year as more students try to emulate the trend set by their seniors. Our future endeavor obviously is to extend support to more beneficiaries and  weigh up financial and practical viability to have own land and premises by which we can accommodate homeless or very needy children and to take our services to greater scales