Piaggio announces “Shiksha Se Samriddhi”, a scholarship programme for the children of the auto rickshaw driver community

• Under this programme Piaggio will help children who want to continue their higher education and pursue full time  technical or vocational courses like Polytechnic/ITI
• The programme is for aspiring students whose parents/guardians belong to auto rickshaw driver community

Pune, 30 September, 2020: As the nation prepares to mark the 151^st birth anniversary of  Mahatma Gandhi, Piaggio vehicles private limited, is proud to announce a unique scholarship programme, “Shiksa Se Samruddhi”, to support underprivileged children of the auto rickshaw driver community who wish to pursue higher education after 10^th or 12^th, Piaggio Vehicles Pvt Ltd (PVPL) has tied up with Buddy4Study India Foundation for this scholarship programme as part of its CSR initiative. This is an initiative which would support up to 80% of the yearly course fees of selected students who have enrolled for full time technical or vocational courses after grade 10^th/12^th. 

This programme is designed with an aim to empower the children of underprivileged auto rickshaw drivers who couldn’t pursue higher education due to financial constraints. This scholarship programme will take care of the financial needs of the eligible students. In order to apply, students should have scored more than 55% marks in class 10^th or 12^th and must be enrolled in full time studies of technical or vocational courses such as ITI or Polytechnic and annual income of their families should be less than Rs. 3,00,000 per annum. The shortlisted students will get the scholarship which is equivalent to the 80% of the yearly course fees or a maximum of Rs 20,000 per year. 

A dedicated tele counselling support will be provided to assist students who wish to apply for this scholarship via a helpline number (180-012-05577) and weblink https://www.buddy4study.com/page/piaggio-shiksha-se-samriddhi-scholarship. Both the weblink & helpline number will be operational from 2^nd October 2020.  Information about this scholarship programme will be shared with the three wheeler driving community through an extensive outreach program done centrally as well as at every Piaggio Commercial vehicle dealership. Distribution and collection of offline application forms will also be done across the dealerships of PVPL.

Telephonic interviews of all the qualified students will be taken to validate the information filled in the application form and ensure that deserving students are selected. Post the final selection of students, a separate onboarding activity will be conducted and their performance will be tracked and monitored over a period of time.

Talking about this announcement, Mr. Diego Graffi, Chairman & MD of Piaggio Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. said, “Many deserving students drop out of formal education in India due to the lack of financial resources and institutional support. The COVID-19 pandemic will further aggravate this problem. Having worked closely with the auto driver community and their issues in this regard, PVPL has taken this opportunity to extend its support to the community by providing auto rickshaw driver families with the means to achieve their children’s educational dreams. Piaggio has always been a responsible corporate citizen in India and this programme further strengthens our commitment towards upliftment of the auto drivers’ community in India.”