Super-philanthropist and Indian cinema’s most active activist Sonu Sood keeps pushing from one charitable cause to another. He has now decided to set up a scholarship trust for needy students.
Sonu Explains, “I was getting so many requests from all over the country for school and college admissions, school fees, laptops, I Phones, etc. I was helping with all that. But I decided that the question of education must be addressed on a more permanent level. There are lots of students who can’t afford their fees in their second year in college and have to miss their exams. Sometimes they are not able to travel from their homes to their places of education.”
The inspiration to help students with scholarships came to Sonu from his mother. “My mother is an educationist, and she urged me to do something on a more permanent level for students. This is when I got began to get in touch with universities and colleges in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu. The response is very encouraging from everywhere.”
The idea behind Sonu’s latest endeavour is to help the really needy among students. “I am constantly connecting with students who deserve financial help. On 12 September we received 40,000 emails from hopeful students. We will now start the process of filtering their bio-data on the basis of their financial background and educational qualifications, the marks that they have secured in their Plus 2 exams.”
The idea is to zero in on students from every walk of life, “From mass communication to animation to engineering, agriculture, hospitality sector, airlines, artificial intelligence, you name it. In the coming weeks, you will see students from all walks of life getting into their chosen vocations. You know what they say about a well-educated nation being a healthy nation. I want to help create opportunities in the educational field in a big way.”
Several organizations are coming forward to assist Sonu’s noble endeavour. “Yes, my work is being acknowledged. But it is a very complicated process. It’s not about only getting them educated in a college. It’s about assuring their maintenance, food hostel travel for the next five years. This scholarship scheme is not just to educate the students, it’s also an education for me.”
