Beating all odds, daughters of two marginalised farmers make it to ‘99’ club
ROHTAK/ HISAR: They say girls are a burden on parents. They say girls can’t be engineers. Breaking all such stereotypes, Simran of Hasangarh village in Rohtak and Kajal of Indachoi village in Fatehabad, scored 99.47% and 99.31% respectively in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE, Mains) held for admission to engineering colleges across the country.
Daughters of marginalised farmers, the two girls are among 46 of the 48 students enrolled in the ‘Super-100 programme’ of Haryana government who have passed with flying colours in the examination.
Talking to Hindustan Times over the phone, Simran said cracking the JEE mains is like a dream come true but it is the JEE Advanced exam that she is really aiming for.
“I had studied at a government school in our village till Class 10 and secured over 90%. My father owns less than two acres of land. He had met with an accident a few years ago and remained paralysed for sometime but still managed to provide me and my siblings with good education,” she said, adding that she hopes to get into a good IIT and become a computer science engineer so she can support her family.
Kajal, who gives all credit of her success to the ‘Super 100 programme’ of the Haryana government which gives free coaching to underprivileged students, says, “I had read about JEE exams in the newspapers and dreamt of cracking it. After coming here, my teachers boosted my confidence and guided me about the exam.”
She says she wants to pursue her graduation from IIT and then give free coaching to underprivileged children.
“I want to pay forward.There is a lot of difference in the education given to students at the village-level and in the Super 100 programme. I am thankful to the Haryana government and Naveen sir (head teacher of the programme) for providing us this unique coaching and giving us a chance to realise our dreams,” she says.
Naveen Mishra, head teacher of super 100 programme at Rewari, said that he along with his five IIT passout friends have been giving coaching free of cost to the students.
“All the students are very focused and we are committed to sending more children from rural background to IITs and
AIIMS,” Mishra added.
Shubhcharan Malik, Kajal’s father, said that he is very proud as his daughter got very good marks in the examination.
“I only studied till Class 12 and Kajal’s mother Saroj Devi studied till Class 8. But the staff at Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS) of Indachoi village helped my daughter to clear her doubts when she need them,” he said.
Dayanand Sihag, district education officer of Fatehabad, said “Kajal did well in the exam and is a role model for other girls in the district.”
THE TWO ARE AMONG
46 OF THE 48 STUDENTS ENROLLED IN HARYANA GOVT’S ‘SUPER-100 PROGRAMME’