18 students from the under-privileged families of a village in Gaya, Bihar, have cracked the IIT entrance exam this year.
Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. And the students of Patwa Toli locality of Manpur block, Gaya proved it once again that difficulties are not meant for them by cracking the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) exam at its best. After the brilliant performance of students from the famed Super 30 institute, comes another success story from Bihar.
Cracking the IIT appears to be a tradition for the students of Patwa Toli. 18 students of this village have cracked the IIT exam. And for the first time, a girl named Deepa kumari from the village has also made it to the list of successful candidates. Jitendra, Rohit, Rahul, Mithilesh, Ravi, Dhanraj, Vikas, Balraj, Rahul Singh, Govind, Abhaykant, Manish, Raja babu, Sanjeev, Ambuj Kumar, Sunny, Rahul Singh are among the students who cleared the exam.
This time a differently able student Rahul Kumar cracked the IIT exam with 62nd rank and has created the history. While talking to Organiser representative he said, “I belong to a poor family and don’t have my own home. I use to travel 4 kms by my tricycle to study. I live on a rented house with my family here. We totally rely on our group study as we can’t afford expensive coaching. Our parents are also not much literate. The environment here is so good that everyone studies together; everyone helps each other out if there is any difficulty.”
The success story of Patwa Toli began in 1996, when Jitendra Kumar became the first person from the area to qualify the IIT exam who is presently working in California. Hundreds of the students from this locality are now placed on top jobs in India and abroad.
Today, at least 10 to 15 students get selected in IIT every year from this village. One of the interesting things about this village is the students who are already studying in IIT and NIT, and those who have got jobs, help their juniors in preparing for the exams in their studies when they come on vacations. There are some organisations like Nav Prayas that also help students in their study.
Today Manpur has risen as an example of success and has proved that in the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity. It is to be noted that the village has been regular Sangh Shakha from the last five decades.
—Sanjeev Kumar from Patna
