My Story: Indian Women Dont Pursue Higher Education Because Of Financial Constraint Or Family Pressure

My Story: Indian Women Don't Pursue Higher Education Because Of Financial Constraint Or Family Pressure

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I am a healthcare professional working as a Dental Surgeon in Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi.
My regular voluntary Dental Camps in rural India taught me that our country needs better policies for establishing healthcare in rural India and this vision lead me to think about pursuing a Masters in Public Health.
I had always dreamt of obtaining a degree in Public Health from UK universities to bring an advanced idea of healthcare keeping in mind that National Health Services (NHS) of UK healthcare is the best in the world.
This is when the miracle happened, UK interviewed and shortlisted a total of 150 men and women globally, to pursue their Masters in STEM Subjects in the top UK universities including Oxford, Cambridge and King’s College.
I went through a series of interviews and after getting nominated was finally selected for my Public Health postgraduate research degree from Kings College, UK.
There are a number of scholarships available for Indian women but because of ignorance and lack of proper guidance, people are not able to take full benefit of it.
The basic purpose of my write up is I want women of my country especially those living in Tier 2 cities and villages to know that nothing is impossible when it comes to fulfilling one’s dreams.
Being a mother of an 8-year-old too did not stop me from achieving my goals.
In India women mostly do not pursue post graduation and post-doctorate degrees because of financial constraints and family pressure.
But if we look around we can find a couple of fully funded scholarships which can help us at all stages of Life.
The Chevening, The Commonwealth Scholarship, The Marshals and the British Council are the major scholarship for
students over the global.
Though the competition was extremely tough to be among 150 students from across the Globe to be selected for this was not easy at all but it was worth the hard work.
I am striving for a better oral health care for my country and I am sure I will be able to achieve it for rural development.
It was a real honour during the UK ministerial visit when the Educational Minister of UK congratulated us scholars for our achievement.

The first and the foremost site is scholarships.com where you will find scholarships from all over the world tailored to your cut and needs. There are few scholarships for mid professionals as well. This site provides updated information to the students which most of us remain unaware before the dates close.
Like for example, there are The Chevenings Scholarship, The Commonwealth Scholarship, The Marshals Scholarship, The British Council Scholarship.
The most common scholarship links are:
I got an offer for my Master of Public Health postgraduate research from different universities of UK: The Sheffield, Kings College London, The Manchester University, Liverpool University and the Foresterhill, University of Aberdeen.
After considering the best teaching faculties and research facilities I chose the University of Aberdeen which the largest medical, dental and applied health science university in the UK and Europe.
The British Council added feathers to my wings by funding my education completely.
I dream of bringing back better health policies to my country by my advanced research projects for rural India.
I would like to thank the government of India for providing me with a study leave from my job as a Dental surgeon in the Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi.

Those willing to know more about the scholarships can mail their queries to Dr Ankita Chandra at [email protected]


Story By – Dr Ankita Chandra


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