Modelled on Patna’s Super-30, which has enabled many poor students crack the entrance examination and join the prestigious IITs, a coaching centre in the Kashmir Valley is enabling disadvantaged students from the militancy-hit region to pursue their dreams of becoming engineers.
Founded as a joint initiative of the Army, the Centre for Social Responsibility (CSRL) and PETRONET LNG Limited (PLL), Project Kashmir Super 50 this year saw 32 students clear the JEE (Mains) and seven crack the JEE (Advanced). The students selected for coaching – 45 boys and five girls – were provided with free residential coaching for the JEE, JKCET and other engineering colleges. Significantly, 20 of the 32 JEE (Mains) qualifiers are from the Scheduled Tribe category and two from the Other Backward Classes.
Roughly a third of the successful students are from the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas and the rest are from other government schools, said a source. Among the students are children of farmers, labourers and drivers.
(With inputs from Dinakar Peri)