Edtech Emeritus has announced a scholarship programme for young women through Vahani, an NGO dedicated to educating talented students from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds. Through this programme, Rs 1 crore in scholarships will be provided to Vahani Alumnae to access Emeritus’ education programmes offered in partnership with universities across technology, data analytics and digital marketing fields, as a gateway for women to enter into various industries of the economy.

According to the World Economic Forum, due to the lack of opportunities, 45 per cent of women in India aged 15 to 29 years are not engaged in any education, employment, or training. This contrasts with only 6.5 per cent of men. Access to upskilling and education programmes are critical to providing young women with the tools and skills to succeed in the workforce, opening up career and employment possibilities. 

The increasing interest to undertake upskilling programmes to create future job opportunities is evident at Emeritus, which claimed that over 40 per cent of the learners across programmes are women. The company believes this number will continue to grow year-on-year.  

Speaking about the scholarships for girl students, Ashwin Damera, co-Founder and CEO, Emeritus said, “At Emeritus, we believe that education is transformational and we are on a mission to make it more accessible. We are proud to partner with Vahani, to help women across India learn new skills to unlock career opportunities and bridge gender gaps in skill training.”

The scholarship programme is an extension of Emeritus’ commitment to increasing access to education to marginalized and underserved communities. In 2021, it launched a partnership with Vahani, which included individual scholarships and one-on-one mentorship for Vahani alumni. 

Through this tie-up, Emeritus team members have been on boarded as Vahani mentors, who provide one-on-one guidance to their mentees twice a month, thereby helping them choose better career paths. 

Identifying a gap in the accessibility to quality higher education, Reeva Misra founded Vahani Scholarship to support the underserved. The NGO’s mission is to build future leaders of change, fund the education of deserving women and children, and mentor and nurture them towards their holistic development. 

Emeritus is backed by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Leeds Illuminate, Prosus Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, Bertelsmann, Accel and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. In March 2022, it has secured $350 million in debt financing from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board through its subsidiary CPPIB Credit Investments Inc.