Sonu Sood speaks on scholarships for underprivileged

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.”