TIRUNELVELI
The noble gesture by Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish has realised a sanitary worker’s son’s dream of becoming a doctor as she has released sufficient money from the Collector’s discretionary funds to meet his educational expenses after he bagged a seat in the Tirunelveli Medical College on merit.
Securing a seat in a government medical college on merit was not easy for B. Sudhakar, a Tamil medium student from Sardharpuram in Old Pettai here, as he did his Plus Two in a government-aided higher secondary school and had to conquer the NEET challenge which is still hard nut to crack for even the bright English medium students.
When he passed Plus Two in 2016 with 1,046 marks out of 1,200, Mr. Sudhakar originally planned to join an engineering course. However, sudden setback in his health temporarily kept himself away from joining an engineering college. However, he utilised the year for preparing himself to face NEET in 2017.
“Though my father Baskar, a sanitary worker with Tirunelveli Corporation, and mother Sivasakthi, a housemaid, admitted me to a private coaching centre after borrowing money from various sources, the questions asked in the NEET Model Exams were quite tough for me as I had passed Plus Two in the State board syllabus in Tamil medium. I, as expected, got only 161 marks in the NEET, which was not enough for getting a seat in a government medical college. However, this failure made me tougher and I was determined to enter a government medical college,” Mr. Sudhakar says.
Armed with his hard work, the poor student got 303 marks in the NEET in 2018 and secured a seat in Tirunelveli Medical College.
“When I joined the coaching for NEET, I, a Tamil medium student, struggled a lot in learning the technical and scientific terms in English. Though it scared me a lot, I was very much clear in winning my goal and I’ve achieved it with my determination,” says Mr. Sudhakar, who was honoured by Corporation Commissioner V. Narayanan Nair recently with cash award and new clothes.
Now, Ms. Shilpa has released ₹ 1,24,740 from the Collector’s discretionary funds to meet his educational expenses. Handing over the cheque to Mr. Sudhakar here on Tuesday, the Collector encouraged him to continue his hard work so as to do his postgraduation and become a doctor to serve the poor and the neglected.