The Indian government has expressed a strong commitment towards education for all; however, India still has one of the lowest female literacy rates in Asia. Disparity in literacy between the sexes has been a growing concern. It is clearly depicted by UNESCO 2003 estimates, according to which-

• 96% of girl children are enrolled in primary schools vs. 45% enrolment in secondary schools
• A mere 9% of girls are enrolled in tertiary education
• Girls are often removed from school due to financial, social and cultural constraints. Poor families are also more likely to keep girls at home to care for younger siblings or to work in family enterprises. This serves as a major barrier to a girl's education
  

Udayan Shalini Fellowships has been launched in response to bring dignity to the lives of disadvantaged girls by facilitating education for them. This would help them becoming economically independent and also contribute to their social development.


Udayan Shalini Fellowship Programme is a Scholarship and Personality Development Programmefor girls from lower socio-economic milieu. It reaches out to disadvantaged girls who live with their natural families, but in difficult circumstances. They are given monetary and mentoring support to continue pursuing academic and vocational training to attain financial independence.

The programme has been developed to fulfill the following objectives:

To afford financial aid to deserving but needy girl students to enable them to study and reach their true potential

To create a Mentoring environment that provides individual attention, counseling and grooming for the girls and assures their overall mental and moral development

Through education, to improve their career prospects and financial capacity and thereby reduce the impact of poverty in communities

To make them socially responsible citizens and to encourage them to make a positive contribution to society through obligatory social work

Till date, 828 girls have benefited from this programme since its inception in 2002. 380 new Fellows (34 in Kurukshetra, 188 in West Bengal & 158 in Delhi) have been enrolled in the programme during the year 2007-08. A Placement Cell has been set up to facilitate our alumni in getting jobs.