BHUBANESWAR: In a remarkable achievement for the Didayi community, a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG), Champa Raspeda has become the first girl from the tribe in Malkangiri district to clear the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and secure admission at Fakir Mohan medical college and hospital in Balasore.
Hailing from Amlibeda village under Nakamamundi gram panchayat of Korukonda block, Champa is the daughter of a marginal farmer Lachmu Raspeda. She completed her matriculation from SSD Girls’ High School at Chitrakonda and Plus II science from SSD school at Govindpally.
However, financial hardships at home forced her to discontinue her BSc studies.
It was her former science teacher Utkala Keshari Dash who helped her avail free NEET coaching at Balasore and Champa went on to clear the national test in her first attempt.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi congratulated Champa for her achievement. Taking to X, the chief minister said her hard work, strong determination and success will inspire youths of the state. “I hope that in the future she will serve the poor and backward people as a good doctor and I wish her a bright future,” he added.
Over the past few years, several tribal students from different communities have cleared NEET and secured MBBS seats in government medical colleges.
The Didayi tribe, one of the 13 PVTGs of Odisha, inhabits the remote forested regions of Malkangiri district, particularly in the Kudumulugumma and Khairput blocks. Traditionally, they are dependent on shifting cultivation, forest gathering and small-scale farming.