Vedanta Lanjigarh launches ‘Ascend’, a mentoring series for rural youth

The company’s senior leaders will engage with students to boost their holistic development

Lanjigarh, Kalahandi District, Odisha, October 10, 2023: Vedanta Limited, Lanjigarh, India’s premier producer of metallurgical grade alumina, has launched ‘Ascend: Grow Responsibly, Learn Responsibly’. It is a mentoring series led by the company’s senior leaders with the goal of reaching out to students attending schools in the vicinity of the operational area. The initiative envisions a platform where the students can directly engage and interact with the company’s expert professionals, gaining useful insights and making informed decisions on navigating their personal growth and careers. Through this effort, the company seeks to encourage students to build a brighter future for themselves, brimming with possibilities.

Vedanta Lanjigarh is consistently focused on enhancing community access to quality education, thereby raising learning standards and empowering young minds. The Ascend program includes hour-long interactive sessions between young students and Vedanta Lanjigarh’s senior leaders. So far, the sessions conducted by the company’s CSR and Commercial functions have seen an active participation from the students, with over 400 students across 3 schools in Lanjigarh benefitting from the sessions. The company intends to expand the Ascend program to include more students in the coming months through additional sessions led by experts from its legal, safety and health departments, to name a few.

Mr. GG Pal, Dy. CEO Alumina Business, Vedanta Limited, said, “At Vedanta Lanjigarh, we believe that students are an important element in our nation’s continued development. Education remains the key in fostering transformative growth and socio-economic development. This initiative therefore reflects our unwavering commitment to creating a positive impact on young minds. We strive to support them through quality education and opportunities so that they can excel and emerge as tomorrow’s leaders.”

Ms. Sweta Prasad, Teacher, D.A.V Vedanta International school, expressed her views on this initiative, saying, “One of the significant dimensions of a holistic education is making students capable of choosing career trajectories and being able to make the decisions independently. Such interactive sessions by Vedanta Lanjigarh will help them to align their passion and aspirations and will help enlighten our young students’ minds.”

The sessions emphasize on skills like the importance of collective efforts, adapting to change, constructive self-awareness, assertive behaviour and learning from one’s failures. The senior leaders also share anecdotes from their own extensive experience. The sessions culminate in an open Q&A forum, where the students can clarify their doubts and queries.

Vedanta Lanjigarh has been working towards enhancing the educational landscape of Kalahandi district through several initiatives. It established the DAV Vedanta International School in 2006 as the first English medium school in the district. The school has since established itself as a key enabler in the district’s progress, providing students with excellent infrastructure and expert teachers. It has also produced several rank-holders in the state-level board exams. In addition, Vedanta Aluminium operates over 135 Nand Ghars in Kalahandi, which are modernized anganwadis that serve as important community hubs of women and child development.

Vedanta Lanjigarh has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kalahandi District Administration for the development of 21 schools across the district, under the Government of Odisha’s ‘Mo School Abhiyan’ initiative. As part of the collaboration, the company will lend its support towards building required infrastructure like smart classrooms, e-libraries, computer labs, playgrounds, gardens, etc. in these schools.