Hyderabad: As many as 150 students from tribal and social welfare residential educational institutions cleared their National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Neet) exam 2019. This bunch of students is now eligible to secure admission in MBBS and BDS courses in the various colleges across the country.
Of the 150 students, 100 come from social welfare residential institutions while 50 come from tribal welfare residential institutions.
These students were coached under Operation Blue Crystal and Operation Emerald, initiated respectively by social and tribal welfare residential educational institution societies of the state government. These institutions provide free coaching to students from scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) communities under the state government’s KG to PG Mission scheme.
Ms Kovvuri Rasagna from the social welfare residential college in Gowlidoddi, who secured all-India rank 509 in the SC category, told this newspaper, “My parents have been struggling day in and day out just to make ends meet, so sending me to a private Neet coaching institute was out of the question. A financially poor student like me could not have even dreamt of cracking the exam if not for the free coaching by the government.”
Ms Ramavath Sneha Latha from the tribal welfare IIT study centre in Rajendranagar secured all-India rank 802 in the ST category. “I would have dropped out of college and ended up a victim of child marriage if it wasn’t for the state government’s KG to PG Mission scheme. My aim is to become a cardiologist and serve poor people in rural areas,” she said.
TSWREIS and TTWREIS secretary Dr R.S. Praveen Kumar said, “I feel blessed to be associated with this rare opportunity. We plan on inviting these students to share their success stories with their successors.”
“We also have an acclimatisation module in place to prepare students for college life and to eliminate any possibility of caste-based discrimination. And in addition to our helpline number, we also have special officers assigned to counsel students in distress,” Dr Praveen Kumar added.
