JODA: The provision of fellowship opportunities for meritorious students, belonging to the SC/ST communities has been an important part of Tata Steel’s endeavor in the field of education.
On an average, every year over 100 meritorious SC/ST students from villages around Katamati in the Keonjhar district of Odisha benefit from the Jyoti Fellowship programme.
In the last 9 years, Rs 34.18 lakh has been disbursed to students from Katamti under this fellowship. In 2020, as many as 130 students received the fellowship from Katamati region with the total amount of scholarship awarded being to the tune of over Rs. 5.5 lakh.
Jyoti Fellowship offered by Tata Steel Foundation is given to meritorious students to enable them to accomplish their educational and career aspirations. It identifies deserving candidates based on a test of academic merit wherein a student has to undergo a common written test conducted every year at two levels, school level (class VII) and college level (graduation 1st year).
Once the student qualifies this test, the student becomes eligible for fresh fellowship as well as renewal for consecutive years, subjected to 45 per cent marks scored in annual examination every academic year conducted by respective schools or colleges.
The Fellowship has come as a boon for the students of Katamati who otherwise face many hurdles to complete their education. Lack of financial support has often led many students to drop out of schools and colleges.
Sushant Kumar Naik, a student from Deojhar village has been receiving this fellowship for 3 years. He says, “I am currently studying in 9th standard and have been receiving Jyoti Fellowship since I was in 7th Standard. Several of my friends from my school have also received this fellowship. We are grateful towards Tata Steel for supporting us and giving us the resources to continue our studies. I wish to study further and become a doctor one day!”
Tata Steel’s Jyoti Fellowship programme extends financial help to students from Jamadoba, West Bokaro, East Singhbhum, West Singhbum and Seraikela Kharsawan district in the Kolhan region of Jharkhand and Sukinda, Bamnipal, Joda, Gopalpur, Kalinganagar, Gomardih and Katamati in the state of Odisha.
