COIMBATORE: A tribal candidate M Sangavi beat penury and tragedies in the family to inch closer to the dream of becoming a doctor.
Sangavi, who scored 202 marks in the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2021, belongs to the Malasr Community. She hails from a hamlet named M Nanjappanur which would not pop up immediately when you google search. She is the only daughter of a farm labourer couple Muniyappan and Vasanthamani. Her father was working on a farm when he fell ill and died last year.
In fact, it was Muniyappan's dream to see his daughter become a doctor.
After her father's death life has become so difficult for Sangavi and her mother because her mother is partially blind after having undergone surgeries and cannot go to work.
A group of advocates comprising R Silambarasan who visited the hamlet during the pandemic to extend rice and other essential commodities to the tribal families in the hamlet spotted Sangavi. When quizzed, she told them she appeared for NEET two years ago and failed to clear the test.
The next year she didn't sit for the test. Moreover, she was desperate to get a community certificate.
Silambarasan and his team helped by a group of local media persons then chose to assist her in whatever ways they could.
"Sangavi and her mother still lives in a hut with a leaky roof where they cannot sleep when it rains," Silambarasan told The New Indian Express.
But Sangavi who is the first girl in their hamlet to complete class XII cleared NEET this year.
An emboldened Sangavi has a message for NEET aspirants. She urges candidates like her not to choose suicide when they fail the test. She asks them to try and assure that with the right guidance, they can surely succeed.
She pointed out that she attended the NEET exam in 2017 -18 after she completed class XII in Pichanur government higher secondary school, but she failed the exam.
“My desire is to become a doctor and serve my people. But I don’t know how to go about it. When I attended the NEET exam for the first time, I failed to get through. I was depressed and helpless.”
“Later, I joined a polytechnic college. But I discontinued within ten days for lack of a community certificate. Last year, I got a community certificate," she said.
“With the help of good Samaritans, I joined a private NEET coaching class and I got a few months of training. Thus, in my second attempt, I passed the NEET by scoring 202 marks,” she said.
K Sivakumar, T.I.M.E Institute (NEET coaching) said, “This tribal student will get a medical seat definitely under the Tamil Nadu government 7.5 percent reservation and apart from that she comes under ST category.”
But the troubles are not over yet for Sangavi. She needs financial support to do the MBBS course. She looks forward to Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin to help her.