About

Access to high quality education for everybody is extremely important for equity since it provides opportunities for the poor and socially disadvantaged to advance themselves. However, by Govt. of India’s own admission, only 8% of the relevant age group in the country go on to receive undergraduate education and above. (Ref: Planning Commission). Clearly, a country that aspires to give its citizens a decent standard of living as well as wants to be globally competitive cannot afford to have such low percentage of educated population.

The benefit of higher education is effectively gated at the high school level. Unless all strata of the society have equal access to high-quality education, higher studies will continue to be just a distant dream for the financially challenged. While there have been numerous attempts at national, state and social levels to encourage education in all strata of society equally, the fact remains that the dropout rates at secondary level education is still as high as 62%. (Ref: Department of Education report).

This is not surprising, considering the cost of higher-secondary and undergraduate education ranges between $ 700-1500 annually, which is almost as much as India’s per capita income of $ 1043.

Padakshep is a dream shared by a group of like-minded people, that rests its faith in the notion that education can make a huge difference in shaping a society. We further believe that the responsibility to realize this dream lies with each and everyone of us who has had the good fortune to avail higher education, and thus various opportunities in life. With this vision, plenty of hope, and your generous help we have taken a small step – a Padakshep.

Padakshep started its journey in 2008. It has undertaken the project to provide complete financial support and educational guidance to several bright and needy students (Please visit our “projects” page). Padakshep periodically monitors their performance by staying in a regular contact with the students and contacting their mentors.