KOCHI:Celebrating the 100th anniversary of its formation, the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) has launched the ‘Touching the Lives of Hundred Girls’ project. The flagship project aims at giving free scholarships to 100 deserving students from financially backward families.
Deserving students will be identified and selected from coastal as well as rural areas around the city for the scholarship programme. Twenty five students have already been given certificates and they will be given training in job-oriented professional courses.
Laly Thomas, president, YWCA said, “Though we had conducted several activities as part of the 100th anniversary celebrations, this event is our flagship programme. We are looking at deserving financially backward students who are brilliant in studies and are children of single parents or those with sick family members.” The rest of the scholarships will be distributed by July and August, the members said.
The centenary celebrations will come to an end on August 17. Another fund-raising event will be held before the function. Members of YWCA will stage a drama on the occasion.
According to the YWCA president, the organization has always aimed to empower women and girls. ”We believe this is a big endeavour in this direction. Initially, we raised Rs 10,000 for all the 25 students. There are plans to continue the educational programme in the future as well. We are focusing on nursing and BTech courses.” Having launched its centenary celebrations on August 16 last year, the event was inaugurated by Governor P Sathasivam.
Another fundraising sale was also held as part of ‘Touching the Lives of 100 Girls’. The scholarship programme was inaugurated by Pooyam Thirunal Gowri Parvathy Bayi who also distributed scholarships to the students.