Lila Poonawalla Foundation adds another 333 girls to its family
Pune, November 15, 2015: 333 young girls were awarded scholarships for engineering graduate/diploma program, at an event organised to mark the 20th year of Lila Poonawalla Foundation. With this addition LPF would have crossed over 1100 girls in engineering since starting of the program in 2010. LPF has added more than 800 girls this year and will be adding another 400 in December from Amravati and Wardha taking the total addition this year to 1200 girls. Indeed a big step forward starting 20 years back with only 20 girls in 1996.
The Chief Guest for the event ,Ms. Aruna Jayanthi (CEO, Capgemini India Pvt Ltd.) and the Guest of Honour Mr. Anubhav Kapoor (Company Secretary and General Counsel, Tata Technologies) gladly gave away the awards to all these deserving girls, who were selected after a very tedious selection process including personal interviews of each of the candidate. The function was very well organized by the Foundation and the large crowd it drew, stood testament to the fact. The Event was enthusiastically attended by the Partners, Well-Wishers and Friends of the Foundation. The parents of the awardees also participated with equal excitement, joy and fervour.
On this occasion, Chairperson of LPF, Padmashree Lila Poonawalla, thanked LPF partners Tata Technologies, IKEA, Capgemini, Sears, KPIT technologies, Tieto, Volkswagen, Atlas Copco, and BNY Melon who are supporting this graduate engineering program initiative this academic year. In her message to the Audience she expressed that, “Technical education is always the strong foundation towards building a great career.” She not only gave the girls and their parents a few words of encouragement but also stressed on the importance of educating a girl child and the impact it has on the society as well as the country. Mrs. Poonawalla then went on and urged the parents, to not marry off their girls at an early age but to let them spread their wings and fly high. She gave her personal example of how becoming an engineer had changed her life, from spreading her hand to take to put forth her hand to give.
The Chief Guest for the event Ms. Aruna Jayanthi, who is herself a Post Graduate in Management Sciences, said “I am immensely proud of LPF for the work it does, as it not only takes the girls under their family tree but also encourages them to step out of their comfort zones, shed their inhibitions and transform themselves into well educated, daring and confident young women.” She also advised the young girls to turn the hardships they face into desire, a desire to learn, educate and build a positive life.
The Guest of Honour, for this Function, Mr. Anubhav Kapoor, of Tata Technologies, who has been a partner, in LPF’s endeavour to support the Engineering Girls, said “Tata Technologies is very happy and gratified with its decision to partner and support an organization like LPF, as the Foundation not only supports the girls financially but it also supports them emotionally, by being there for them, not just for the duration they are granted the scholarship but also after the girl graduates and builds a life of her own. As this not only enables the girls to be socially aware but it also gives them the confidence to turn their dreams into reality. ”
