padalacharitabletrust.org PCT Educational Scholarship 2015 : Padala Charitable Trust

Organisation : Padala Charitable Trust (PCT)
Announcement : Educational Scholarship Program 2015

Application Form : https://www.scholarships.net.in/uploads/572-Fresh_Application_Form_PCT.pdf
Home Page : http://padalacharitabletrust.org/programs/

Educational Scholarships :

The goal of this program is to identify the best merit and poorest of the poor students and offer them financial help needed to pursue higher studies.

Update:
Padala Charitable Trust Educational Scholarships 2017 : www.scholarships.net.in/13534.html

Applicants from the Govt schools/colleges are given high priority since the reason they are not in Private institutions is because of their financial constraints. Each year we invite applications for fresh as well as renewal scholarships.

Selection Process :

PCT offers educational scholarships for deserving students pursuing the following courses:
Intermediate (2 years)
Diploma in Engineering (Polytechnic) (3 years)
Diploma in Education / Pharmacy (2 years)
Undergraduate Non-Professional Courses (3 years) (B.A, B.Sc, B.Com)
Undergraduate Professional Courses (4 years) (B.E, B.Tech)
B.Ed Course (1 year)
Medicine (MBBS) (5 years)

1. Norms :
All prior & current education must be in a government school/ college
The applicant must hail from a poor family with no other resources to support his educational needs
Applications with post graduate courses (MBA, MCA, MSc, MTech, MS etc) willnot be considered.
Applicants who are in the final year of study (4th year B.Tech, 3rd Year BSc etc) will be given a lower priority than those in first and middle years.

The application will be rejected if
Complete information is not provided in the application
Incorrect details are furnished
Supporting documentation (marks lists, rank cards etc.) is not submitted during the interview process
Please do NOT apply for the scholarship if you do not meet the above criteria.

2. Application :
There Application forms for Fresh and Renewal scholarships can be obtained from PCT office or can be downloaded/printed from PCT’s web site using below links

Applications for Fresh scholarships must be submitted by 30th June each year
Applications for Renewal scholarships must be submitted during the annual interviews usually held in June each year.

3. Documents required to be submitted along with the Fresh Application Form :
Xerox copy of Income Certificate from MRO
Xerox copies of Marks Lists from X class onwards
Xerox copy of Rank Card /Score Card (in case of entrance exams line CEEP, EAMCET, ECET etc)
Two Passport size photo (colour or black & white)
Any other merit certificates showing the academic excellence of the applicant.

4. Screening & Short listing of Applications :
All applications received are screened and short-listed as per the Norms AND financial status of the applicant’s family. The applications from private school/college students will not be considered at all. Each short listed applicant is informed through a call letter to attend a personal interview along with his/her parent/guardian.

5. Personal Interview by PCT panel :
The interview panel consists of at least 3 panel members and 1 consolidator. The panel usually consists of PCT secretary, retired teachers/HMs/Principals and other elders. The panel tries to get an idea of a) the applicant’s academic history b) his/her desire for higher studies c) the parents’ income sources and their ability to support the applicant’s educational costs.,

Based on the conversation, each panel member gives a grade for each applicant. So, each applicant will have at least three grades one from each panel member. The possible values of grade are: A – Accept, R – Reject, N – Not Sure.

A – Accept: This applicant is genuine and eligible for PCT scholarship
R – Reject: This applicant is not eligible for PCT scholarship
N – Not Sure: The panel member is not sure if the applicant is genuine or not. More information needs to be gathered before moving the grade to either ‘Accept’ or ‘Reject’.

Consolidator’s role :
On the other hand, the consolidator’s role is to note down all key points of the conversation in the spreadsheet he/she has. Once all applicants are interviewed, the consolidator takes the grades from all panel members and puts them in the same spreadsheet. At the end of this process, the consolidator comes up with a ‘Grading Sheet’ with all important information and grading details in it.

Note on Renewal Applicants :
Since the renewal of PCT scholarship is NOT automatic each year, there are few things that the panel members verify before granting the renewal.

Verify if the scholar maintains consistent performance in his/her academics. Reject the scholarship if the performance is not up to the mark.

Find out if there have been any new income-sources for the family. If so, investigate the details and see if the scholarship can be completely stopped OR at least reduced.

Get (and file) all the receipts from school/college if the applicant used our scholarship for tuition fee/college fee. Unless there is proof that the scholarship amount was used for the purpose that was issued for, the renewal will not be processed.

6. Review of Grading Sheet :
The ‘Grading Sheet’ prepared by the consolidator with all applicants’ data is reviewed thoroughly by PCT-Managing Committee. The applicants with 2 or more ‘Reject’ grades are eliminated from the list and all others are kept as the preliminary list of finalists. The applicants with ‘N’ (Not Sure) grades are given an emphasis in the next process (EVR) to gather more information so that the grade can be converted to either ‘Accept’ or ‘Reject’.
EVR (Eligibility Verification Report) process is initiated for each applicant with ‘Not Sure’ status in the preliminary list of finalists.

7. EVR (Eligibility Verification Report) – What, Why and How What :
What :
PCT is very sensitive to the genuineness of each applicant we sponsor and we make all efforts to see that we reach the poorest of the poor with best merit. We do not consider the Income Certificate from MRO as a complete evidence of economic backwardness of the family. The purpose of EVR is to make sure we pick up the most deserved applicants in the selection process. EVR is prepared for each applicant who could not be judged by the panel during the face to face interview process.

Why :
In some cases, the determination of the eligibility of applicant is simple and straightforward (for example, the parent is a daily coolie, rickshaw puller, blacksmith, lorry driver, physically handicapped/mentally retarded etc.). However, in several other cases the decision is not that simple and we need to make sure we judge the applicant’s need correctly. For example, if the parent is a kirana shop owner, we do not know how big or how small is his shop. Also, if the parent is a farmer, he may not reveal the details like how much land he owns etc.
This is when EVR helps us. EVR is a form that needs to be filled out by the PCT member/volunteer for each short-listed applicant. The only goal here is to verify the accuracy of information provided in the application and the details shared during the interview process so that a decision can be taken whether to grant the scholarship or not.

How :
The PCT member/volunteer filling out this form needs to go through the initial application submitted by the applicant as well the information provided in the ‘Grading Sheet’ during the interview process. The next step is to contact head of the institution (school/college) where the applicant is admitted into or finished the course (whichever is applicable). The following details need to be verified:
Whether the applicant’s conduct and behaviour are satisfactory
Whether the applicant maintains good attendance in the class
What is the applicant’s family’s financial status (as far as they know)

Finally, the applicant’s village/town is visited where his/her parents are living to find out the details regarding:
What kind of house they are living in
Whether they have any family members who are employed and earning
Whether they possess any considerable assets like lands, houses etc.

Once these details are verified, a final grade is entered in the EVR for each applicant.
(A – Accept, R – Reject, N – Not Sure)
A – Accept: This applicant is qualified for PCT scholarship
R – Reject: This applicant is NOT qualified for PCT scholarship
N – Not Sure: Enough information could not be gathered to reach a decision on this applicant.

8. Selection of Finalists and Distribution of Scholarship
After reviewing the grades from Grading Sheet & EVR for all applicants, a list of finalists is prepared by PCT-Managing Committee indicating the amount of scholarship for each applicant.
All finalists will be informed to attend the Scholars’ Meet at PCT’s head office location (Yeleswaram) where the scholarship amounts will be distributed to each of them.
All information about the finalized applicants and pictures of the distribution function will be published on the PCT’s web site

NOTE:
1. Please be advised that, this scholarship program is intended for poor and merit students only with no bar on caste, religion, region or gender
2. Please post your application to Padala Charitable Trust, Yeleswaram E.G.Dist 533429 A.P or email to padalasurya@yahoo.com