About 142 social and 48 tribal welfare residential students fought their way out of poverty and secured top All India ranks in SC/ST categories in NEET 2020 on Saturday.
These are children of beedi workers, small farmers, agricultural labourers, tea sellers, vegetable vendors, mechanics, cooks, masons, auto drivers, housemaids, watchmen and peons.
Dejavath Girija, a tribal girl from ‘Operation Emerald’ coaching programme being run by the Telangana Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TTWREIS), secured all India 85 rank in ST category. She is likely to get admission into the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
G. Abhilash, who secured 168 All India rank in SC category, said, “My parents are the happiest people to see me as a doctor and I can’t thank Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao more for his approval for free intensive long-term NEET coaching for poor students like me.”
“The success of these students from poverty stricken families means a lot to their families in overcoming generations of deprivation and under development,” says an elated secretary of TSWREI and TTWREI Societies R.S. Praveen Kumar. He congratulated the toppers and said that the entire credit goes to teachers for their hard work and going an extra mile in fulfilling the aspirations of underprivileged students.
Earlier, less than five students used to secure seats in medical colleges every year but the transformation has come about in the last few years as about 108 SC/ST students joined medical colleges last year.
Operation ‘Blue Crystal’ programme for SC students and ‘Operation Emerald’ for ST students were being launched in 2015 to provide top-class free NEET coaching to meritorious students and these two programmes have come as a boon to marginalised students, he pointed out.
