SHDF provides scholarships for professional diploma, degree, or postgraduate courses to bright students from low-income families in Punjab and other northern Indian states. Our objective is to help students overcome the financial barriers to higher education and become self-reliant, employed professionals.
Scholarship recipients include orphans, children of widows or terminally ill parents, children of farmers who committed suicide, agricultural laborers, domestic servants, and other disadvantaged families
In 2023, 70% of applicants had a family income of less than $110 a month, with an average scholarship cost of $550 per year per student.
SHDF partners with Nishkam Sikh Welfare Council in New Delhi to manage scholarship operations, including inviting applications, conducting tests and interviews, and sending recommendations to SHDF.
SHDF determines all rules, procedures, and selection criteria. Each application is reviewed in detail to allocate need-based scholarships.
For the academic year 2022-23, SHDF provided 1,460 scholarships and aims to grant 1,600 scholarships for 2023-24, totaling 13,000 scholarships since inception. Over $5 million has been disbursed to support students.
Many graduates have successfully pursued careers in fields such as architecture, engineering, healthcare, IT, education, law, and medicine, transforming their lives and securing the futures of their families and communities.
The Sikh Human Development Foundation is dedicated to catalyzing transformative change by offering scholarships to underserved yet ambitious students across Punjab and nearby regions. Through donor support, the Foundation has helped empower students to pursue advanced education and professional opportunities in diverse fields, awarding over 13,000 scholarships over the past two decades.