ONGOLE: Bijjam Venkata Chandrasekhar Reddy (17) and Tunga Durga Suprabhat (17) are two students from rural middle class families who have become role models through the talent they showcased in the recently announced Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains results by securing national level best ranks.
They are now inspiring not only their peers but also anyone with big dreams who is ready to chase them with patience and undeterred, disciplined hard work for years to achieve their goals.
Venkata Chandrasekhar Reddy secured national level 1st rank with a 100 percentile score in the two sessions of the Mains exams with 300/300 marks. Tunga Durga Suprabhat secured national 11th rank with a 100 percentile score in the second session JEE Mains exam with 300/300 marks.
These two youth belong to erstwhile Guntur district and are very hardworking students who spend 14 to 15 hours a day on studies. They both aim to study their favourite Computer Science Engineering (CSE) at the world famous IIT Mumbai. They are now preparing for the next and final exam, JEE Advanced, to be held on May 17.
JEE 2026 Mains set a significant record in participation. For the two sessions, around 15.38 lakh unique candidates appeared and over 8 lakh candidates appeared for both sessions. Based on minimum cut off percentile scores, about 2.50 lakh students qualified for JEE 2026 Advanced.
From the two Telugu states around 50,000 students qualified. Across the country, 26 students achieved a 100 percentile score and among them 10 students are from both Telugu states, five each from Andhra and Telangana.
Born to Bijjam Venkata Ramana Reddy and Sudha Bharathi and brought up in a rural agricultural family in Sai Nagar village of Nujendla mandal in Palnadu district, B Venkata Chandrasekhar Reddy (17) has been a bright student since childhood. While preparing for the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) entrance test, KKR Goutam educational institutions identified his intelligence through an entrance test and offered him a free seat. He studied there for five years and passed SSC with 568/600 marks. Later he got a free seat in Sri Chaitanya College and achieved 945/1000 marks in the Intermediate exams. Since then he has been undergoing JEE coaching. His’s parents shifted to Vijayawada, so he would not feel alone in his effort.
“As I come from a rural agricultural family, I know my parents’ hardships for my education. So I want to be a CEO of a famous corporate company after completing my IIT Mumbai studies and will take care of my parents personally. For this goal, I am more focused on my studies and I do not have a mobile phone. My only goal is to get a seat in IIT Bombay and I am confident in my hard work and leave the matter to the almighty,” Chandrasekhar told TNIE. “Anyone who puts in sincere efforts, studies 14 hours a day and has determination and discipline can easily achieve a good rank in JEE Mains,” the JEE Mains 1st ranker opined. “We wanted our son to be an IAS or IPS officer to serve the public. But after knowing his talent and passion, we encouraged him to be an IITian,” Ramana Reddy told TNIE.
Tunga Durga Suprabhat was born and brought up in Yenugu Palem village in Vinukonda mandal. His father Tunga Srinivasa Rao and mother Pushpa Latha are both government Secondary Grade Teachers working in government primary schools respectively. From the beginning Suprabhat was an intelligent boy. He underwent one year of coaching to get admission into Class 6 at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya. At that time Bhashyam institution selected him for free education. From Class 6 to Intermediate he studied in the same institute and finally achieved 11th rank in the recent JEE Mains results.
“My goal is to study CSE at IIT Mumbai by securing a better rank in the JEE Advanced exam. Further, I want to be an entrepreneur by launching a startup company and will provide jobs to others.
I spend nearly 14 hours on studies and I do not have a mobile phone or social media accounts. I listen to the Bhagavad Gita and read newspapers to relieve stress and study pressure,” Suprabhat told TNIE.