The Ullas Trust was set up in 1997 by the employees of Polaris to ignite & shape the young minds of students from Corporation, Government and Government-aided schools across the country. Very early in its evolution, the Ullas Trust decided to focus its energies on students from economically challenged backgrounds during the most vulnerable phase in their lives, ie adolescence The Trust believes this is the right period to nurture a ‘Can Do’ spirit in children to shape their aspirations, and channel their efforts towards meeting their goals.
Speaking on the occasion, Arun Jain, Chairman & CEO, Polaris Financial Technology Ltd said, “It is an inspiring and humbling experience to have the opportunity to engage with 1,50,000 students this year, which is indeed a very big milestone for the Ullas initiative. We have two flagship programs in Ullas that are designed exclusively for young adolescents. The weekend enrichment program called SUMMIT is intended for Classes 9th to 12th standard comprising 20 interventional modules to complement high school education and shape the thinking of young students. The TOUCH THE SOIL program comprises of two unique workshops that ignite the dreams in similar students coming from the districts and rural areas. This mammoth initiative is driven by Polaris employees in Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi"
Under the ‘Can Do’ workshop series, the company rolled out a unique Diary of Dreams workshop to over 1000 students, anchored by Arun Jain. The students thoroughly enjoyed the interactive workshop and the process of identifying their dreams and making a commitment to achieve the same.
Snapshot of the Ullas programs :
1. SUMMIT - the weekend enrichment program
The SUMMIT Program, a follow-up of the Annual Workshop, is conducted by Polaris employees for students from government, government-aided and corporation spanning standards 9th to 12th. The SUMMIT program comprises of 20 modules spanning across crucial life skills including communication skills, confidence building, memory skills, active team work, public speaking, leadership skills and computer lab sessions. It is graded from Level 1 to Level 4, with Level 1 beginning for Class IX and finishing with Level 4 for Class XII. Between Standard IX to XII, each student undergoes at least 20 life skills intervention programs and annual workshops that help hone their self-confidence and overall personality.
The SUMMIT programs conducted this year in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad reached more than 6000 students from 450 schools.
Polaris employees get into the role of active trainers and mentor these students. By rendering these sessions, besides sheer joy and satisfaction, they get a unique opportunity to shape the thinking of thousands of young students, the future of our country.
2. ‘TOUCH THE SOIL’ Program
The ‘Touch the Soil’ program reaches young minds in the districts through its ‘Diary of Dreams’ and ‘Planning’ workshop for Class IX and X students. The program spreads the power of believing in dreams to high school students across the rural areas of the country. The Diary of Dreams workshop encourages children to share their aspirations and put down their dreams on paper, helping commit the dream to their subconscious. The objective is to inspire students to dream big and with conviction and start translating these dreams into action.
Teams from Polaris are delighted to have ignited the dreams of over 1,50,000 students in a single year. The initiative has covered 9th and 10th standard students in 441 schools across all districts in Tamil Nadu, and 954 schools covering 45 districts in Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
About Ullas Trust
Ullas Trust, the Social Arm of Polaris Financial Technology was started in 1997 with an aim to integrate the employees with a larger community and nurture a “Can do it” spirit among the students. The Trust recognizes and rewards academic excellence through annual scholarships. The Ullas Trust has been organizing an annual workshop for the past 15 years, with the aim of exposing young minds to role models and achievers from the real world. Every year, the workshop culminates with the Trust awarding educational scholarships to students identified through a selection process from Corporation and Government schools in all districts of Tamil Nadu, Mumbai and Delhi. Going beyond scholarships, the employees of Polaris act as “Mentors” to the Ullas Achievers by engaging them regularly on weekend enrichment programs. For more information, please visit www.ullastrust.org/.
Polaris Financial Technology Ltd is a leading Financial Technology company, headquartered in Chennai, with its comprehensive portfolio of products, services and consulting. Polaris has a talent strength of over 13,500 solution architects, domain and technology experts.
