Horizons - Filled with Hope

I'm a little late in posting about this – a village labourer from Andhra Pradesh, Narasimha Rao, has secured the 453^rd rank in the IIT Entrance exams. Watch this video to know more (original youtube link here)

This is yet another instance of students from the Indian hinterland beating all odds to prove themselves in one of the toughest technical exams ever. Last year, I had written about a college which made IITians out of cattle-grazers. And now this.

Goes to show two things:

One: How much talent and determination rural India bundles.

Two: How important it is to encourage such people and revamp the education system such that mindless “coaching” and “tuition” culture makes way for more sensible and practical approaches.

The video says that Narasimha's battle is only half-won. He still needs money to even travel to the counseling, and needs to supplement the family income.

All I can hope for is that such talent doesn't go waste and that Narasimha makes it to IIT and proceeds to serve the country in his chosen field. We all need such examples of hope and inspiration every now and then to prove what difference determination can make.

Update: This post has been selected as one of "Spicy Saturday Picks" for 6th June 2009 by BlogAdda.

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Up until yesterday, if one asked me what it takes for anyone to get into an IIT, I'd probably say

• Coaching from one of the top institutes (BASE, Brilliant etc)

• Money to even enrol in these coaching institutes (they don't come cheap do they?)

• And of course, the indispensable trio of talent, hard work and determination.

But that was yesterday. If one asks me the same question today, I'l probably mention only and only the last point. For, a Government Junior College in Hyderabad has busted the myth regarding the first two points.

The students at the Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Junior College are from the extremely poor sections of society. They are children of daily wage workers, and many of these students have spent their childhood grazing cattle or toiling away in farmlands. The college itself runs in a small 5-room building and boasts of little to no infrastructure or facilities. And what is so special about this college?

Of the 35 students who are passing out from the college this year, 19 secured top IIT ranks. 7 of them are actually headed for IITs and the others have secured admission in reputed institutes like Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (of which Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam is the chancellor).

This college is a model – of how “getting things done” is far more important than “patting one's own back”. I am sure any private institute would have used such an achievement as an excuse to waste newsprint by the kiloton, and shout from the top of their voices in an attempt to assert themselves as the “best coaching institute in the country”. And the private institutes would not have stopped there for sure – they would also have used this as an opportunity to hike their fees. And to think that the principal of this particular college gave all credit to students! As the news article puts it:

A beaming principal E Lakshmaiah modestly attributes the success more to the hard work and determination of the students than the alma mater. “The facilities are bare minimum here. But despite that, our students succeeded in the highly competitive nations-wide tests,” he said.

I feel the Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Junior College deserves all the credit it is getting – so do the students who study there. In an era where education is fast turning into a lucrative business rather than an essential service; and when seats at professional courses are sold, exhorted or auctioned; this particular college is standing out from the crowd and doing a real service to the nation. Hats off to them.

Looking forward to an India where decent professional education is inclusive of the economically weaker sections of society. JAI HIND.