yoga gives back scholarship for higher education at deenabandhu trust
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YGB Ambassador Anouk Prop visit SHE scholarship teen students in KarnatakaTRANSCRIPT
Yoga Gives Back Scholarship for Higher Education at Deenabandhu Trust “Having silver in one hand and gold in the other hand” Yoga Gives Back Scholarship for Higher Education program (SHE) is a five year scholarship for destitute teen students in India to complete high school and aim for college degree. SHE scholarship program is funding 35 teen boy and girl students in Chamarajanagar, Karnataka with five-‐year commitment so that they can finish high school education and aim for college degree. These students have absolutely no other way to continue their education due to extreme poverty and related family problems, if it were not for SHE scholarship. YGB is delighted to meet totally determined and eager students during its visit in December 2014, who express their gratitude, commitment and dreams this scholarship offers. This program will be able to seed an opportunity for each student to become a real change maker in their communities and beyond.
During my visit to Deenabandhu Trust in November 2015 prof Jayadev and I visited some of our SHE students at their technical college in Gundalpet, a school where only 30 students per year are allowed.
We had a visit through the school and one of the main teachers discussed the progress of the students with us. It was such a great compliment to hear that they all do so extremely well and that they're very special. The teachers at school notice a significant difference between these students and their peers. They appear to be more mature and more motivated than their peers, show more discipline and moral values. Especially Sandeep was being praised as a very hard worker and is doing his best wherever he can, with a lot of confidence and faith. He is a beautiful example for a lot of students at the school as well as for the children of Deenabandhu Trust itself.
Another great opportunity to see how well the SHE students are doing was given at Saturday morning November 28th where prof Jayadev organized a gathering of all SHE students at Deenabandhu School in the light of YGB Thank You Mother India activities in that weekend. First we started with a plenary session in which all students explained how their studies are going and what they want to become in the future. Some students elaborated more on how Yoga Gives Back SHE scholarship is helping them. Thanks to this scholarship they are able to pay school fees, books, materials, uniforms and more.
Also they see a great benefit of being able to participate in higher education with regard to their siblings or family. These students are convinced that because they receive proper education this will have a ripple effect in their families as well. They can pass whatever they have learned to their family members and moreover, since they will have a good job in the future they are able to take care of their families as well. All SHE students are very grateful for the fact that they receive a scholarship that enables them to make a difference in the future. They show great motivation and discipline and determined to work hard at school to express their gratitude for the gift of education in their lives.
After the plenary session all students got cake in the hall of Deenabandhu School and we continued with watching the beautiful YGB video Kayoko Mitsumatsu made on these students last year: http://youtu.be/4tkN42JnUBU The children were delighted to see this movie and felt very honored to participate in this in one way or another, in such an extent that we had to play the movie a couple of times.
It was a great pleasure to see how these SHE students are making a difference, not only in their own lives, but also in the ones around them. Sandeep said it right. Education is like having silver in one hand and gold in the other. These students are all diamonds! Yoga Gives Back Anouk Prop Chamarajanagar November 2015