How do IGF-India’s scholarship programs for youth and children bridge the opportunity gap in underserved communities, and what long-term educational outcomes do you hope to achieve?
What IGF witnessed during and after COVID is something that is difficult to forget. Many of us saw it on television—images of children standing alone at cremation grounds, families losing everything in a matter of weeks. But for us at IGF-India, these were not just headlines. These were families calling us, sitting across from us, telling us what had changed overnight.
We met children who had lost both parents, and others whose only earning parent had died. We also met families where parents survived, but the cost of treatment wiped out all savings, or jobs were lost with no certainty of return. In these households, education did not stop because it was unimportant—it stopped because survival came first. When there is very little money left, food becomes the priority, not school fees, transport, or books.
This is the gap our scholarship programs try to address. Not the gap of merit or potential, but the gap created by sudden loss and instability. Through the Sanjeevani Program, run in partnership with Sony India, we step in at the moment when a child is most likely to disappear quietly from the education system—not because they want to, but because their family no longer has a choice.
The scholarships cover tuition, books, uniforms, transport, and digital learning support, and in some cases extend to hostel facilities, nutrition aid, or mobility support for children with disabilities. But beyond what the scholarship pays for, what it really offers is relief—the assurance that education does not have to be the sacrifice a family makes to survive the month.
We believe deeply that education is not something you can “pause” and return to easily later. Once a child drops out, the chances of coming back reduce sharply. Our hope, therefore, is simple and urgent: that children pushed out of school by crisis are able to return, complete their education, and grow into adults with real choices. If a student finishes school, continues college, or completes a course they were on the verge of abandoning, that, for us, is impact. That is education doing what it is meant to do—breaking a cycle that should never have begun in the first place.
IGF works across healthcare, livelihood, and sustainability. How do scholarships fit into your broader vision of a healthier, more inclusive future for children and youth?
Over the years, our work has taught us that education rarely collapses in isolation. As per approached the Girl Children in government schools under our ‘Empower Her’ program to provide mensuration pads for continued attendance in schools, we realized ‘Education’ usually falls apart alongside health issues, unpaid medical bills, or the loss of a breadwinner. Many families who applied on the ‘Sanjeevani portal’ were also dealing with untreated illnesses, long-term post-COVID health problems, or caregivers—often widowed mothers—who had no steady source of income.
That’s why ‘Sanjeevani’ was designed as more than just an education program. Alongside scholarships, it includes medical assistance for families struggling with post-pandemic health needs, as well as skilling and livelihood support for widows and young adults. In the pilot phase alone, while 33 children received full educational scholarships, the broader program supported 61 individuals, including those accessing medical aid and livelihood training.
For children, this matters in very practical ways. When healthcare costs are covered or a caregiver has some income stability, a child is less likely to drop out again. Scholarships, in this sense, are not an isolated intervention. They are part of a larger effort to stabilise families so that children can focus on school without carrying the weight of adult anxieties.
What criteria or community insights guide your selection of scholarship beneficiaries, and how do you ensure support reaches the most vulnerable?
We are intentionally slow when it comes to selection. Families apply through a bilingual microsite – ‘Sanjeevi portal’, that we built to be accessible even for those with limited digital exposure. But the application form is only the starting point.
Each case goes through several layers of verification. Our Trust and Safety team reviews documents, conducts phone interviews with caregivers, checks with schools or colleges, and where possible, does on-ground visits. We use a structured Vulnerability Index that looks at household income, number of dependents, disability, social disadvantage (SC/ST/OBC/EWS), and whether the household is female-headed or widowed.
At the same time, we don’t rely only on scores. Some of the most important insights come from small details—a teacher sharing that a student has stopped attending because fees are pending, or a relative explaining how caregiving responsibilities have fallen entirely on one elderly grandparent. These conversations often shape our decisions more than numbers alone.
In the pilot cycle alone, we received 696 applications from across the country. After verification, 391 met eligibility criteria, and 61 children were awarded sponsorships. Funds are always disbursed directly to educational institutions to ensure transparency and continuity. The numbers are modest, but each case is examined carefully, because we know that getting this wrong has real consequences for a child.
Through programs like ANGEL, NEMO, and Care On Wheels, IGF shows grassroots change. How do you track the long-term impact of scholarships?
Our teams are used to staying close to communities—whether through mobile medical units or Anganwadi work—and we carry that approach into Sanjeevani as well. Once a child is supported, our work doesn’t end with fee payment.
We track academic progress, attendance, and well-being through a monitoring system that allows us to follow each child’s journey. Since we have deep connects through our Pan India Operations team engaged with govt school children health checkup and mensuration pads, the IGF Ops team monitors the progress updates covering not just disbursements but also how students are coping—whether they’ve re-enrolled, settled into classes, or need additional support.
Some children also receive counselling, learning kits, or access to digital classrooms and mentorship, depending on their needs. Over time, we look for quiet indicators of impact: a student staying in school for another year, completing a course they were on the verge of dropping, or a caregiver telling us that the pressure has eased now that fees are no longer a constant worry.
Looking ahead, what are your plans to expand scholarships, and how can collaborations enhance educational equity?
‘Sanjeevani’ began as a response to an emergency, but it has shown us what’s possible when support is designed carefully. Based on what we’ve learned, team of IGF-India and Sony India are exploring how to expand the scholarship program across more regions, languages, and special-needs categories, with a stronger focus on rural and semi-urban areas.
We also see a need for closer coordination with schools, local administrations, and healthcare systems, so children who show early signs of dropping out are identified before it’s too late. In our experience, partnerships work best when each stakeholder plays a clear role—corporates provide sustained backing, schools flag vulnerability early, and organisations like ours stay close to families.
At its heart, the goal remains very grounded: to ensure that children who have already experienced loss are not forced to give up their education as well. In a country where learning loss and dropout risks continue to surface in government data, quiet, consistent collaborations like Sanjeevani can make the difference between a child leaving school and a child finding their way back.
