The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has joined hands with Sutherland to support the education of 10,000 students from economically-disadvantaged backgrounds. The programme provides scholarship funds to qualified students that reduce the cost of certification by 50 per cent.
This scholarship funding enabled students to obtain certification in the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) online courses for the January 2022 semester. The funding supported 10,000 beneficiaries from 160 colleges in 18 states across the country.
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Highlighting the benefits of the scholarship programme, Professor Andrew Thangaraj, NPTEL Coordinator, IIT Madras, said: “With the generous support from Sutherland, these students, many of whom hail from families of first-generation learners, now have the opportunity to obtain NPTEL certification.”
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One of the beneficiaries, Mr Kartavya Singh Jadoun from Madhya Pradesh, said: “My father passed away two years ago, my mother is a housewife. So, to manage the economic conditions of our home I have to do a part-time job along with my studies. This scholarship will help me to fund my next NPTEL examination registration.”
Another beneficiary Ms Divya C Samse from Maharashtra, said: “My parents are farmers. Now, they face financial hardship due to weather challenges and they are not able to financially support my education. I want to thank Sutherland for the scholarship program.”
The NPTEL is a joint initiative of IITs, including IIT Madras, and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) under the Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India. "NPTEL offers more than 600 courses for certification every semester on the national Massive Open Online Courses' (MOOCs) portal-- swayam.gov.in, in various engineering disciplines, sciences, humanities and management and also focuses on relevant exposure to the latest tools and technologies," IIT Madras said in a release.