Manipur girl Aira Thoudam bags prestigious scholarship from Egypt institute

Imphal: Amid the ethnic conflict that has besieged Manipur, a Class XI student from the northeastern state has selected for a scholarship for the prestigious AFS Global Stem Academy in Egypt.

Aira Thoudam is presently studying in Tezpur-based Assam Valley School. Her mother Meena Longjam is a well-known Manipuri filmmaker.

A resident of Imphal West district, Aira has made it to the group of top 150 scholars selected from a pool of 6,000 applicants from 15 countries for the AFS global STEM Academy. “I am extremely excited to be selected for the scholarship in my first attempt. I received my selection letter via email on Friday,” a delighted Aira said on Saturday

She added: “I have been preparing for months for this, though I was bit nervous during the interview. I would like to thank my school teacher Raya Mukhopadhyay without whose guidance this wouldn’t have been possible. I am also very proud of my mom, who is always very supportive and is my inspiration.”

The Stem Academy, run by US-based AFS Intercultural Programs, an international non-profit organisation with over 75 years’ experience providing intercultural learning packages, caters full-scholarship programmes to high school students aged between 15 and 17 with interest in sustainability, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) and social impact.

The programme has two parts -- 'Virtual Exchange Programme' to be held from March 8 to June 9 (12 weeks), and 'Travel to Egypt' from July 18 to August 16 (4 weeks).

The students, upon successful completion of the programme, will be conferred with the advanced certificate on global competence for social impact, a prestigious accolade jointly conferred by AFS and the Centre for Social Impact Strategy, University of Pennsylvania.

Aira’s mother Meena’s film ‘Andro Dreams’ had opened in the non-feature section of the Indian Panorama at the 54th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa in November 2023. (IANS)

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