BHUBANESWAR: Five meritorious students selected for the prestigious Professor Ghanashyam Dash Scholarship (PGDS) 2025-26 for higher education were felicitated by the Bansidhar and Ila Panda Foundation (BIPF) here on Friday.
They include four MBBS students Chumki Jena of AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, Annapurna Chakrabarty of SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, Gyana Ranjan Behera of Shri Jagannath Medical College and Hospital, Puri, Dhableswar Pujari of Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital in Koraput and Naba Jyoti Giri enrolled in BTech Computer Science at NIT Rourkela..
Instituted in 2005 by IMFA, the scholarship is named after renowned historian late Ghanashyam Dash, father of late Ila Panda, to provide equal opportunity to the students through financial assistance to facilitate higher education.
Every year, meritorious students, pursuing professional degrees in engineering, medicine, STEM and liberal arts, receive this prestigious scholarship. The selected candidates get up to 90 per cent of the academic fee and eligible expenses for four year course amounting up to Rs 6 lakh per recipient.
BIPF officials said all recipients will receive mentoring, coaching and virtual sessions of 20 modules, specifically designed to help them strengthen academic focus, time management, career prospects, mental wellness, AI skills, life and social skills among others.
“By supporting meritorious students, we fuel their potential to become enablers to national growth. To further strengthen their path to success we undertake a mentorship programme to help students develop leadership qualities and make informed choices in this constantly evolving world,” said BIPF trustee and founder CEO Shaifalika Panda.