Year: 2026

In October 2021, a long term active volunteer at Deepam – Venkat, came up with the idea of supporting deserving college students through a scholarship.

Over the last 5 years, Venkat has always ensured the scholarship is funded, right at the start of the new financial year. The scholarship paid the college fee for a less-privileged student, for the year. It was named after his living parents. His patience to see through the scholarship process has helped ensure highly deserving students are beneficiaries.

The 1st beneficiary of this scholarship, Priyadarshini, was the 1st college graduate in the family. Her dad is an autodriver and could not afford to pay her college fee. She is now working as a software engineer at Zoho in Chennai. Her feedback is here

The scholarship team—Vasanthi mam, Lalitha mam, Abhishek, Prasanna, RR Sir, and others—has been instrumental in selecting the right beneficiaries and maintaining the program’s impact.

There is something powerful about everyone working together toward one clear goal: finding and supporting students who truly need help. This scholarship has a special way of finding the right people and changing their lives for the better.

Deepam Venkatachalam-Kalyani Scholarship for the year 2025-26 is awarded to Priyadarshini & this is her story.

Priyadarshini currently studies 2nd year B Com at a college* in Chennai. When she got in touch with Deepam in her 2nd year – her situation was fragile. Her dad passed away when she was 7 years (after abandoing the family). Her mom solely brought her and her sister up. Her mom earned a meagre income through her work as a child minder. She studied in a government school all through.

She joined college, through a loan that her mom had arranged. That paid her 1st semester fee. But she couldn’t pay her 2nd semester fee and wasn’t allowed to write her exams.

Her mom unfortunately, passed away earlier this year. It was at this juncture that Deepam scholarship team got introduced to her. Her 2nd year fee was due. Deepam Scholarships team immediately organised to pay her fee.

Despite all the challenges, Priyadarshini has shown a lot of courage and determination to keep finding a way. She & her younger  sister currently live with her grandparents. Her grandfather works as a coolie and his daily wages helps provide for the family. They live in a rented house as well.

To support her family, Priyadarshini started to work at a cafe near her house from 1 pm to 10 pm, post college hours on weekdays. On weekends, she works all day – to earn some money to support her grandparents. With the last semester exams and the current semester exams to clear and her days filled with work, she hardly finds any time to study. She carries her books to work and during the lean times at the cafe, she finds a little time to study.

Academically, her scores were not high. However, she is determined & hopeful of finding a way. Deepam scholarships will continue to support her through her college journey. In addition, we are exploring additional ways to support her.