IIT dream a step away for 60 tribal kids who clear JEE

INDORE: They didn’t have teachers with PhDs and other fancy degrees, or the money to afford some of the resources available to their private school counterparts, but against all odds, 60 tribal students from Alirajpur and Jhabua districts in Madhya Pradesh cleared the JEE-Mains.

This year, 210 tribals — 150 from Jhabua and 60 from Alirajpur — who lived in government hostels and studied at tribal welfare department schools in remote areas, sat for the exam for admission to the premier technology institute.

Of them, 38 — including nine girls — from Jhabua, and 22 boys from Alirajpur cleared the exam in their first attempt.

The expected cut-offs this year were 120-125 for Common Merit List, 80-85 for Other Backward Class (OBC) and 50-55 for SC/ST.

“Next year, we are targeting about 500 children and hopefully, 40% of them will clear the competitive exam,” said Jhabua in-charge collector Anurag Chaudhary.

The qualified students are now being coached by experts in Bhopal.

“The government is providing them facilities and help, due to which their talent is now out there for all to see,” said Chaudhary.

“Apart from books for board exams, high-quality reference and practice books have also been made available to them. Libraries in higher secondary schools have been strengthened,” he added.

Chaudhary, who completed his BTech from IIT-Kanpur before joining civil services, said there is no dearth of talent in these districts.

Alirajpur collector Shekhar Verma said the administration was focused on supporting tribal and Dalit children to perform better in the upcoming exams.

Information about such facilities made available by the government is also being disseminated in the more interior tribal areas of the district, he added.