The Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project was founded more than 20 years ago with the mission of educating children and eliminating poverty in rural communities in India. The Project’s model completely intervenes in a student’s life for more than 17 years, providing upward mobility for both the participants and their entire communities.

“The way we achieve this goal is by taking children from the poorest communities in India, giving them a high-quality boarding school education, from the age of four until they graduate from 12th grade, and we cover everything during that period,” said Ajit George (@ajitgeorgeSB, pictured), director of operations for the Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project.

George spoke with Lisa Martin (@Luccazara), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the CloudNOWTop 10 Women in Cloud Innovation Awards at the Google Campus in Mountain View, California. They went into the details of the program, as well as a new scholarship project called Daughters of Destiny.

Far-reaching education

The benefits of Shanti Bhavan’s involvement extend well beyond the individual student into their respective communities. When the students are enabled with upward mobility, they are able to support their families and act as a role model for others to aspire to, according to George.

“They’re able to step up, because they’re given this powerful education, this great opportunity. So there’s a lot of pressure, but there’s also this great knowledge that they have a horizon out there that no one in their family has ever had before,” George said.

George also talked about his role in the Daughters of Destiny project over the summer. The project teamed up with notable tech companies like CB technologies Inc., Intel and Apcera Inc. to provide scholarships to female students in need.

“These young ladies get a high-quality college education in the STEM fields, which is their passion. So it opens doors for them for their education, potentially for internships, and maybe job opportunities after college,” George concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the CloudNOW 6th Annual Top 10 Women in Cloud Innovation Awards.

Photo: SiliconANGLE