A tribal youth from a nomadic tribe in Vidarbha, who not only made it to the foreign shores for education on the basis of his own merit, but also showed the path of quality higher education to over 2000 tribal and Dalit youths from across the backward regions of India, now seeks support for sustaining the social cause. Raju Kendre, an alumnus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and a Chevening scholar who completed his post-graduation from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, runs the Eklavya India Foundation for the last eight years. It has so far reached five lakh underprivileged Dalit and tribal youths from over 25 States. Almost all of them are first-generation learners in their families.
“Eklavya India Foundation empowers first-generation university students from historically marginalized communities – Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Nomadic and De-notified Tribes, and Other Backward Communities, representing over 1 billion people in India, which is 12% the world’s population. We facilitate their successful career transitions by accessing world-class higher education, breaking the poverty cycle, and inspiring them to become community role models,” Raju Kendre said.
