Kolkata, August 26, 2019: Bharat Ratna, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, former President of India, gave away scholarships to 1336 underprivileged girl children from Skipper Foundation to support their education in Beti Padhao Abhiyaan. This is the 3rd Edition of the Beti Padhao Abhiyaan organised by Skipper Foundation, the CSR wing of leading power transmission and distribution and polymer products company – Skipper Limited.
Anand Kumar, Educator and Mathematician, Sajan Kumar Bansal, Managing Trustee of Skipper Foundation and Trustees, Sharan Bansal and Devesh Bansal, along with Siddharth Bansal were present during the ceremony.
Speaking on this occasion, Shri Pranab Mukherjee lauded the initiatives of the Skipper Foundation to support girl child education programme which seeks to change the mindsets in empowering the children in our society. He said, “Everybody needs to understand the importance of educating every child, especially girls. Education is the foundation for better economy of our country, and every girl is playing a very big role into it. Gender equality and advancement of women has to be of primary concern to bring harmony in all spheres of life. It is shocking to know, as per data available, that millions of girls around the world are still denied education which is important as any other prerequisite like air and food.”
Anand Kumar, known for his Super 30 programme shared, “I feel extremely honoured and proud to be part of such a generous venture and hope more and more children can benefit from this. I urge more corporate houses to come and join the race for the progress of our society.”
Sajan Kumar Bansal, Managing Trustee, Skipper Foundation said, “I personally believe CSR should be about empowerment of the community. There are three pillars of our CSR and Sustainability: health, skill development and education. Hence, we realise that primary education, especially for girl child, is the key driver to national prosperity, so it makes sense for us to focus on it.”
Sharan Bansal, Trustee, Skipper Foundation said, “This year, our Foundation offered educational scholarships to around 1336 girl children compared to 700 from last year as a part of the noble endeavour to support the education of our daughters and sisters for the Right to Education. The children were selected by their schools through a need-based selection process. We have come across several families who disrupted education of their girl child due to financial crisis. Beti Padhao Abhiyaan is a small step to help these families to continue the education of their children without any hassles.”
