MP students to get Airtel scholarship

Ask some of the brighter students of your school and college if they remember any corporate house had come forward to extend financial support for their education. No? Now the time has changed. If you own a phone, fixed or mobile, your wards will get dough provided they do very well.

Airtel, the first basic phone operator in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and its mobile phone service arm Airtel Mobility, have come up with a scholarship scheme for the wards of their subscribers.

Under the scheme "Airtel Scholarship", the company will offer 151 scholarships to the meritorious students of the 10th and 12th standards, under-graduate students, common aptitude test(CAT) qualifiers, and engineering and medical students.

A panel of experts will decide scholarships on the basis of merit and need.

As many as 50 students securing 90 per cent or more marks in the 10th standard will be given Rs 3,500, 60 students securing 85 per cent or more in the 12th standard will be given Rs 5,000.

Similarly, 30 meritorious students in any graduation course will be given Rs 5,000, while 10 students joining the engineering or medical courses will be given Rs 10,000.

Students who will qualify in CAT or secure admission for a PG diploma in medicine or MBA will be offered a scholarship of Rs 20,000. The company has make the application forms available on www.mantrafreenet.com or www.airtelworld.com.

The students can apply on or before July 31.

"This is a part of our initiatives to provide for the welfare of the society and our valued customers in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh," said Rohtash Mal, chief Executive officer, Airtel Broadband and Telephone service.

Adding, "we have earlier come up with similar schemes like accidental insurance and received overwhelming response. That encourages and motivates us to offer more in the days to come to our subscribers."

He also clarified that even if a student is selected for the scholarship, his parents or guardians will have choices to switch over to other phone or mobile operator.

"However they should be subscribers of Airtel fixed line phone services or mobile phone services while their wards are applying and joining the scholarship scheme," said Mr Mal.

The scheme is also available for company's mobile phone service subscribers, the initiative will bring us closer to our subscribers, said Madhur Teneja, chief executive officer AirTel mobility.