Child bride’s MBBS dream hits hurdle
KOTA: Rajasthan’s child bride Rupa Yadav, who cleared NEET 2017 this year and secured admission in the Sardar Pa tel Medical College, Bi kan er, is now finding it difficult to finance her first year of study.
The 21-year-old managed to arrange ₹2,500 for admission but is now facing problems ar ranging funds to pay for hostel fees and other expenses.
Rupa was a child bride, married at eight, and sent to her husband’s home before she passed class 10.
Ru pa became an inspiration to many as she continued to study even after marriage, a rarity in the desert state.
“Government hostel for medical colleges are free for MB BS students from the second year, but first year MBBS students don’t get government hostel so I have to shift to a private hostel outside SP MC College where the monthly fees, including meals, is ₹6000,” Rupa told HT.
Rupa, who is at her home in Niwana village in Jaipur, these days for Raksha Bandhan, said that she doesn’t have a mobile phone an disusing her husband’ s as she is in the village, but she would be without a phone once she is in Bikaner.
“My husband and I live in a joint family with more than seven members, including my in-laws and brother-in-law’s family.
The expenses are at par with earnings, hence, affording my studies is becoming difficult for my family,” she said.
“Our family is dependent on agriculture. We earn between ₹50000 to ₹1 lakh annually which is not enough to meet our family expenses,” said her husband Shankarlal (25).
“I have debts of over ₹ 6 lakh, including ₹3 lakh from Kisan Credit Card. These were taken for agriculture and Ru pa’ s education in Kota despite getting a concession from Allen Career Institute in Kota,” he added.
Rupa is waiting to receive a monthly scholarship of ₹1,500 from the Allen Career Institute, which will be given to her for next four years. “The Institute has informed that they are soon dispatching the ATM card for Ru pa’ s bank account with ₹1,500 in it,” said Shankar, an arts graduate.
When contacted media mar- keting head of Allen, Nitesh Kumar Sharma, said that the scholarship begins from the month when a student takes admission in the medical college so since Rupa has been admitted earlier this month, Allen will soon dispatch the ATM card for Rupain to get the monthly scholarship.
However, Shankar said that even after receiving ₹1500, Rupa will need at least ₹5,500 more to meet her hostel and other miscellaneous expenses.
Rupa said that she should get some kind of financial aid from the government along with assistance from the non-government organization (NGO).
“It will motivate other students like me, who have had to fought odds to pursue higher education ,” she said.
Rupa was in class 3 when she got married to 12-year-old Shankar Lal, then a seventh-standard student, during the wedding of elder sister Rukma Devi. The sister wedded Shankar’s elder brother.
She moved into to her husband’s home after writing the Class 10 exam.
She was with her in-laws when the results were declared. She scored 84%.
Along with her studies, Rupa also fulfilled her domestic responsibilities while studying as she worked in the agricultural fields and reared cattle.
Despite this, Rupa dedicated eight to nine hours to study every day. “I took admission in B.Sc. science and appeared for All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) a couple of years ago.
I got 415 marks and All India Rank of 23,000 which was not satisfactory. I decided togo to Ko ta for coaching,” she said. “After talking with my husband, I landed in Kotatwoy ears ago and took coaching for a year but couldn’ t crack NE ET ,” she added.
After a concession in fees, she continued her NE ET coaching at Allen Career Institute.
In this year’ s NE ET, she scored 603 out of 720 and secured a national rank of 2,283.
Our family is dependent on agriculture. We earn between ₹50000 to ₹1 lakh annually which is not enough to meet our family expenses. SHANKARLAL, Rupa’s husband