Nagpur: Alibaug tailor’s daughter, IAS aspirant teens among toppers at Government Polytechnic

NAGPUR: Rohinee Wankhede, who hails from a village in Alibaug, overcame several financial and family hurdles to emerge topper in diploma in travel and tourism during the 22nd convocation ceremony of Government Polytechnic at Sadar on Thursday.
Apart from her, the toppers included 19-year-olds Pratik Wankhede and Viditee Jaltare, both from civil engineering, and Nikhil Ambulkuar of electrical branch. All of them aspire to become IAS officers.
Working part-time, Rohinee is now saving to fund her higher studies. Her father shifted to Akola to look after her ailing mother while her mother and two siblings live in Alibaug. “My mother worked part-time to meet the expenses on my studies in Nagpur,” she said.
These students were among the 21 toppers from 12 branches, while 711 in all were conferred diplomas during the ceremony on the campus. They received gold, silver, and bronze medals beside 28 sponsored awards.
Rohinee did her HSC in commerce and wanted to make a career in the financial sector. “But I decided to take up the new diploma course to start working early to support my family’s financial needs,” she said.
Her elder sister is pursuing fashion designing while younger brother is an engineering student in Penn.
Her dad shifter to Akola in 2010 and had been working there. After her final exams, she started working as front office executive at a resort in Tadoba. Now, she is back to Nagpur and working under a chartered accountant.
Pratik, Viditee and Nikhil have enrolled for BTech and BE degrees while their ultimate aim is to clear civil services.
“I want to ensure housing to all poor people of India and make education free. Our literacy rate is too low,” said Pratik, who topped among all disciplines.
His classmate and second overall topper Viditee said she wishes to be an IAS officer to serve the nation and disseminate knowledge.
Topper among all girls, Monica Dholwani’s reason to opt for computer science engineering was her limited access to technology as a kid. “We lived in a joint family and had only one computer. I always wanted to know more about it and developed liking for gadgets,” she said.
Monica now wants go for innovations and propagate use of technology in rural areas of the country. “I want to take technology-enabled services to villages,” she said.