A new scheme that spells out success for girls

BANGALORE: Over 160 orphaned, abandoned and destitute girls of Bangalore now have a bright future to look forward to, thanks to the State Bank of India’s (SBI) Child Adoption Scheme. The scheme was launched as part of the bank’s corporate social responsibility in 2007.Under the scheme, the bank bears the child’s expense on education, including school fee, cost of books and accessories, tuition fee and transportation costs.The scheme launched at the national level identifies girls within the age group of eight to 15 and supports them financially by providing monetary help of Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 per year.“We identify children from the target group that usually encompass physically challenged, orphaned, destitute or belong to economically weaker sections of the society.With over 250-300 SBI branches spread across the city, we adopt not less than two to five girls under every bank branch so that they could join the mainstream.Till date, we have adopted over 400 girls only from Bangalore,” said a source from the SBI.The branch recently organised an event where the adopted children were awarded for excellence in their studies.“We provide monetary help on the basis of every child’s needs that vary. We contact schools where these children are sent to study and on the basis of their performance, we invest in their tuition fee and other requirements,” said the SBI source.The bank under the initiative has adopted over 2,000 girls across the nation till date. “We also look out for orphanages and adopt children from there, as these orphanages find it difficult to sustain the lot. At times schools also join hands with us and provide the children with school uniforms and food,” said the source.The initiative looks after the children for the next four to five years since adoption, till they are financially independent and are capable of sustaining themselves.