Bengaluru, India; November 16, 2021 – Avasar Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to driving literacy and CrowdStrike Inc., a leader in cloud-delivered endpoint and workload protection announced a university and pre-university educational scholarship program for female students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds with a strong aptitude to learn so they can benefit from quality, higher education.

According to UNESCO, 870 million students saw disruptions to their education due to COVID. Students from marginalized communities were disproportionately affected, in most cases, due to loss of a parent or family income. As a result, economic shocks placed pressure on many children to give up their education. To counteract this, Avasar Foundation and CrowdStrike came together to help children, who faced disruption in their studies due to financial challenges, so they could continue studying.

“The pandemic has heightened many existing inequalities. Empowering the talented, but underprivileged female students to access unlimited learning opportunities and sustainable livelihood opportunities is critical to ensuring an inclusive and sustainable recovery,” said Anand Chaturvedi, Founder Trustee, Avasar Foundation. “With CrowdStrike’s educational scholarship, we intend to leverage our collective strengths to expand opportunities for underprivileged children to help make communities more resilient. Our partnership with CrowdStrike will help children to pursue their career and empower them to bring about a positive change in the economy.”

A total of 15 students between 6 and 18 years of age who may have lost a parent or both due to COVID were awarded monetary support under CrowdStrike’s educational scholarship. For a period of two years, this support covered tuition fees, books, uniform fees, stationery and travel costs in the form of bus passes. The applicants were considered from all public and affordable private schools in Maharashtra, Bangalore and Chennai. From next year onwards, the program will be available across India.

“Girls are especially more likely to have their learning opportunities removed when such a crisis arises and drop out of school permanently,” said Jhilmil Kochar, Managing Director, CrowdStrike India. “I congratulate all the scholarship recipients who displayed such strong academic merit and aptitude, and thank Avasar Foundation for driving the entire selection process and helping in shortlisting worthy students. This initiative not only aims to provide a higher learning opportunity for deserving girls, but also provide career counseling and coaching to help enhance their overall prospects. ” 

Avasar’s scholarship program started in 2012 and currently funds the education of 160 students over the age of 14. Avasar Foundation delivers large-scale projects in the areas of girls’ education and digital literacy. It is headquartered in Bangalore and has presence across 5 cities in India including Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Pune.