Haryana’s Super-100 helps bright students from poor families crack IIT

All are government school students and belong to marginalized sections of the society

As many as 23 out of the 37 students of the ‘Super-100 programme’ of Haryana government have cracked the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced, held for admission to engineering colleges across the country.

While 21 students have qualified from the Rewari centre, 2 are from Panchkula. Most of the students belong to families of farmers and labourers and marginalized sections of the society.

“This is our first batch of 2018 when class X students were enrolled. This is a tremendous feat, which has created a new energy in the education system of Haryana,” says Naveen Kumar Mishra, the head teacher of the Super-100 programme at Rewari, whose Vikalpa Foundation was chosen by the Haryana government in 2018 seeing their exemplary work in the rural sector, to train government school students for the exam.

“Government school students are often ignored, but they need encouragement and motivation to succeed. It is the dedication and streamlined approach of the students which has paid off,” says Mishra, an IIT Delhi alumnus, who started teaching underprivileged students of government schools from the district along with a few of his colleagues, in 2013.

Since most students came from rural background, facing a tough exam like JEE was huge challenge for them. “Super-100 too faced several challenges initially as most students came from Hindi medium background while the IIT exams are based in English,” says Mishra.

The students are provided with free lodging and boarding by the Haryana government while the teaching and training is given by Mishra’s Vikalpa Foundation.

Parveen, 17, son of a daily labourer of Munnawali village in Sirsa secured an AIR 434 in the SC category. “I had not even heard of this exam and the credit goes to Naveen Sir and his efforts to elevate us to this level.” Parveen wants to study Computer Engineering at IIT.

The success of qualifying in JEE Advanced is even sweeter for Simran, 17, of Hasangarh village in Rohtak, who battled her father’s paralysis attack two years back, but continued to prepare for IIT JEE with zeal. She secured an AIR 1392 in the SC category. “It’s a dream come true for the family. I have seen my father’s struggles since childhood. Through my education, I hope to reduce the burden of my father.” Simran wants to take up Aeronautics Engineering as the course of study.

Sahil, 18, a student from Hissar’s Mugalpura village, who secured an AIR 871 in the SC category, owes his success to Naveen Sir, his parents, and the Haryana government, which gave him free coaching. “I had no knowledge of IIT before I appeared for the Super-100 qualifying exam. Naveen Sir gave direction to our ambition. The state government’s support has also been godsend opportunity for students like me.” Sahil too wants to study Computer Science at IIT.

Kajal’s father is a farmer in Indachoi village in Fatehabad. She prepared only for a year and a half for the exam and secured an AIR 293 in the OBC category. Kajal wants to follow on Mishra’s footsteps and help the underprivileged children. “I want to give free coaching to the underprivileged children after my studies,” she said, who cannot wait to take admission in Computer Science stream in an IIT.

Students including Dishant, Sushil Kumar and Anurag who are sons of labourers from different districts of the state have qualified the exam and are rearing to fulfil their dreams to be an engineer.

Source: Educationtimes ( TOI)