SAIIER 2021:Scholarship and Educational Fund (SEF)

Disha Info Desk & Events		Dehashakti School of Physical Education
Entity::Scholarship and Educational Fund (SEF) by Vennila and Author::Lucas

The Scholarship and Educational Fund (SEF) was established in 2008 to provide financial assistance to Aurovilians who seek educational opportunities outside Auroville. Financial support is provided in the form of interest-free loans, repayable as soon as possible and in installments feasible for the recipient.

Activities of the year:

During the financial year 2020-21, 56 Auroville students received financial support from or through the SEF.

The main sources of student-nonspecific contributions were from Ramco Cements Ltd. as CSR funds (Rs. 20 lakh), AVI Netherlands (Rs. 2.47 lakh) and the Auroville City Budget (Rs. 4.3 lakh).

The SEF team had fourteen meetings to interview new applicants and to make decisions on support.

In communication with the SAIIER executives, we updated and rephrased the conditions for SEF support and the procedures of decision-making. They are available for anybody interested, in particular to donors of the SEF.

We met with the SAIIER 2021:Disha Info Desk & Events team who offer guidance to Auroville youth in regard to their motivation and aptitude in their choices of study and learning, and decided to collaborate with the team. From January on, students who approach the SEF for the first time for financial support, will be asked to have at least one session with Disha.

Outcomes:

In total, 56 Aurovilian students received support from SEF in this fiscal year, out of which five received support exclusively from student-specific contributions made by Auroville units. In most cases the financial help provided by the SEF presented only in-part support.

The study subjects at the tertiary level (Bachelor and Master Degrees) included Commerce, Business Administration, Corporate Secretaryship, Economics, Tourism & Journalism, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aviation, Electronics & Communication, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Application, Visual Communication, Film Making, Fashion and Apparel Design, Chemistry, Biology, Physiotherapy, Medicine (MBBS), Optometry, Biotechnology, Biodiversity and Ecology, Geology, Agricultural Engineering, Architecture, Urban Design, Education, English, History, International Development, Global Studies, Politology, Political Sciences, and a Plaksha Tech Leaders Fellowship.

Reflections:

We approached all past SEF beneficiaries asking for repayments of their loans and their financial contributions, but received only very few positive responses. As we have no assured sponsors and income for the subsequent fiscal year, the SEF will depend on a budget allocation from the City Budget / BCC and on repayments. The total available for distribution among applicants may represent one of the lowest annual budgets in the young history of the SEF’s existence.

Conclusion:

There seem to be two ways for the SEF to secure a somehow adequate annual budget for loans to students: one would be a large enough corpus fund that generates sufficient interest – something that would be possible only through generous help from donors; and the second, regular repayments from all earlier SEF beneficiaries amounting to at least 1 lakh per month, which, in our estimate, seems possible in consideration of the total amount paid as loans to Auroville students over the past twelve years. However, till date, moral support and goodwill of earlier beneficiaries towards repayment is insufficient, and our efforts towards this will need to be further intensified.