Young minds impress at HT Scholarships Programme 2019
Students from schools across Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, gathered at the Rangsharda Auditorium for the awards ceremony of the 10th edition of the Hindustan Times Scholarship Programme 2019. This year, HDFC Bank aligned with HT as the presenting sponsor for the event. Deepak Jeswal, senior vice president, product head for savings account, kids account and term deposits, HDFC Bank, graced the awards ceremony.
The popularity of the programme can be gauged from the fact that HT received applications from 85,501 students studying in grades five to nine, from 267 schools. Of these, following a two-step selection process, 50 students emerged as winners of the prestigious HT Scholarship.
Hindustan Times, Mumbai’s executive-editor, Sachin Kalbag, said, “At HT, we believe that excellence comes from a variety of fields, skills, talents and capabilities.” Two special guests, Rajkummar Rao and Yami Gautam, joined Kalbag in a discussion, where they spoke about their own career choices and their journey to success. Rajkummar said, “Acting was never even considered to be a career in my family. I was fortunate to get admission in the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). You should always find what you love and follow every opportunity to achieve it.”
Yami admitted that acting was not part of her plans when she was at school in fact, “I had always aspired to be an IAS officer. I was very focused on my education. I may be an actor today but what you should always remember is that education can never go to waste,” she shared.
The scholarships were then handed over to the 50 winners by Rajkummar and Yami in the midst of thundering applause and cheers from their friends and family. The amount will be credited in their HDFC Bank Kids Advantage Account, which will inculcate the concept of savings at an early age in the winners.
Speaking about his experience, Jeswal said, “It was exciting to interact and learn about today’s young generation and their thought process via the HT Scholarship Programme. It was a crackling atmosphere at the awards function, as the children came up to collect their certificates, with their friends, teachers and relatives cheering them on. I hope our bank’s participation will encourage them to learn more about banking and make them financially literate and independent. I wish all the participants and winners all the best and hope they reach the pinnacle of success.”