RANCHI: As many as 11 girls from Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) at Karra in Maoist hotbed Khunti, have cleared National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
This is the first time that so many girls studying in any KGBV school in the state have cleared the prestigious national-level JEE Main exam.
In addition to that, one girl from the CM School of Excellence of the district has also cleared this prestigious exam. Interestingly, all of them have achieved this success in their first attempt.
Notably, the district administration is running the ‘Sampoorna Shiksha Kavach’ programme to prepare the girl students for medical and engineering at KGBV Karra and Kalamati, respectively.
Many of the girls at both the centres have made this campaign meaningful by passing the medical and engineering exams. All these girls were provided with coaching under the 'Sampoorna Shiksha Kavach' campaign run at Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya at Karra by Khunti District Administration.
Under the Sampoorna Shiksha Kavach Abhiyan, the girl students are guided 24×7 digital education support, personal guidance, and model test series.
This innovative initiative not only led to success in the NEET but also inspired the girl students to get admission in other prestigious institutions in the future.
The Khunti district administration sees this success as a revolutionary change in the field of rural education and is determined to provide similar support to the girl students in the future.
“This is really satisfying that such a huge number of girls were qualified in the first batch for NEET coaching conducted by the district administration under Sampoorna Shiksha Kavach Abhiyan. All these girls come from very humble backgrounds and most of them are the daughters of farmers. These girls are very bright students, and as soon as they got an opportunity and proper guidance, they excelled,” said District Education Officer Aprupa Pal Chaudhary.
A total of 12 girls have qualified for NEET, out of which 11 are from KGBV Karra, while the one is from the CM School of Excellence in the district, she added.
According to DEO, Sampoorna Shiksha Kavach Abhiyan, free coaching is being provided to the girls at Karra and Kalamati for NEET and IIT-JEE entrance tests, respectively.
In addition to that, students at 10 different schools in the district are also being provided free online coaching under this programme, she said.
The DEO informed that a total of 23 girls had appeared for NEET this time, out of which 12 successfully cleared the exam.
Rajkumari Kerketta, daughter of a farmer, Mukesh Kerketta, qualified for the exam by securing 47.47 per cent. She said that her family is living in extreme poverty and hence she was admitted to Kasturba School as her father could not afford to send her to any other school.
“I dreamt of becoming a doctor since my childhood. When I got to know that free coaching is being provided to poor students under Sampoorna Suraksha Kawach, I expressed my desire to join it. Since I was a bright student, I was given an opportunity to join it. With proper guidance of the faculty at the coaching, finally, I made it to NEET,” said Rajkumari Kerketta.
This is the first Father’s Day gift she have given to her father, who had always dreamt of making her a doctor, she added.
Pooja Kumari, who has secured 66.97 per cent in the NEET Exam, said that the free coaching provided by the district administration has benefited a lot, and she qualified the exam in her first attempt with the proper guidance and support provided by the school teachers.
According to Puja, she would like to serve humanity after becoming a doctor. Notably, addressing the pertinent issues of low female literacy and even lower inclination of young girls towards science in the aspirational district -- Khunti, the District Administration had launched ‘Sapno Ki Udaan’ programme at Kalamati centre of KGBV in Khunti in October 2021.
The programme was later named as Sampoorna Shiksha Kavach Abhiyan. Through this programme, an effort is being made to ensure a strong education system for female students in the district.