Introduction:

Youth for Seva (YFS) is an India-wide organization that inspires youth to create positive changes in the society. YFS supports schools, destitute shelters, government hospitals and other social organizations via various programs. These programs are run by dedicated volunteers who intervene and guide as necessary. Volunteering is a core precept at YFS – the passion, and dedication of our volunteers makes lives better one program at a time in a cost-efficient and timely manner. VidyaChetana and VCPlus are 2 such programs aimed at giving deserving students tuition scholarships starting from junior high up to graduation.

Program:

In 2009, YFS launched an educational scholarship program “VidyaChetana” to provide financial assistance to children (studying between Grade 5 - Grade 10?) from underprivileged/economically backward families to complete their school education . This program also augments regular school education with After-school Learning, Audio-visual learning aids, Life skills training, Yoga, Sports, Arts, etc. VidyaChetana Program has supported nearly 4853 children across Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamilnadu.

In 2013, YFS launched another educational scholarship “VCPlus” to provide financial assistance to economically backward students so they could pursue education beyond Grade 10. YFS Volunteers evaluate the candidate based on their Economic, Social status and Employability Criteria. YFS selects and supports deserving students to pursue vocational courses, degree courses in science / commerce, engineering, medicine, agriculture, etc. YFS also monitors student progress periodically to ensure money is well-spent on deserving candidates. To date, 103 students have benefited from the VCPlus program.

Goal:

In order to sustain the existing students (until they complete their graduation) and also support new candidates, VCPlus needs a budget of about Rs 30 lakhs (~USD 44K) for the year 2019-2020.

Kiran Chandrashekar