University of Petroleum & Energy Studies (UPES) has been actively catering to various social obligations but it primarily focuses on activities pertaining to the sphere of education. Arun Dhand, Director–Government Relations and Media Affairs disclosed that the very first CSR project which was undertaken by UPES after it got established by the Govt of Uttarakhand in 2003 was “Project -Abhilasha”.
Its objective was to enable deserving students from the hinterland of Uttarakhand to crack the various engineering entrance examinations by making them undergo a 30 day free of cost residential camp in Dehradun wherein they would be specifically imparted high end training in ‘Physics’, ‘Chemistry’ & ‘Mathematics’.
The Directorate of Education, Government of Uttarakhand assists the University in identifying toppers and bright students of Class X from Government-run schools across the 13 districts of Uttarakhand, thereafter based on pre-defined criteria’s they get selected and are subsequently invited to this camp.
These free residential training camps have been held every single year since 2005 and over 550 students have benefitted from these camps thus far.
“Abhilasha-2016” was organised in UPES campus from 1st to 30th of June 2016 wherein 42 students from 6 districts of Uttarakhand participated which included 12 female students. All these students are Class X toppers of their respective schools in 2013 and have entered their class 12th this year. This batch will again be called for the second phase of their training in “Abhilasha-2016 “camp. Apart from imparting extensive training in ‘Physics’, ‘Chemistry’ & ‘Mathematics’, the participants were engaged in Physical activities of outdoor games like Football, Volleyball, Cricket etc. A conducted tour of the laboratories and library was also organised for them during their stay. The batch was also taken on a tour of the Kandoli Campus of UPES during their stay in Bidholi campus of UPES.
Speaking at the ‘Valedictory’ function of “Abhilasha–2016”, Ranjana, Additional Secretary–School Education, Government of Uttarakhand complimented UPES on the various CSR activities being undertaken by the University. She assured the UPES management of possible assistance in carrying out all CSR activities related to school education.