The “Sapon ki Udan” initiative of the district administration, Khunti District, Jharkhand is a programme for government school students to help them crack national level competitive exams like Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE) and National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
Shashi Ranjan, Deputy Commissioner, Khunti, who conceived this idea says that ‘the main objective of launching this programme is to provide support and guidance to the government school students so that they too can crack exams like JEE and NEET. Their latent capability needs to be chiselled and instil in them confidence and positivism.
Without any qualms, the programme is inspired by Bihar’s ‘Super 30’ programme. The programme was launched in 2020 amidst Covid 19 pandemic without much fanfare as scepticism galore. Notwithstanding, the determination and perseverance of district administration and the students bore fruits and finally the coaching classes began with 28 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalay students.
‘We were faced with the problem of convincing parents to send their daughters to the coaching classes because of Covid 19’ said the DC ‘and their concern was genuine’. After many mind-boggling sessions, persuasions, the dark patches gave way to silver lining and it was decided that the teachers should stay with the students in the school campus and impart coaching to the students.
The result of the first batch of students despite all odds is very encouraging. Two girls cleared NEET and three students qualified JEE Main. Vatika Kumari who cleared NEET said that ‘all credit goes to DC Sir who kept on motivating us and we did not let him down. I worked hard day in and day out and moved an inch closer to my dream of becoming a doctor’.Deepa Purti who hails from a poor family has qualified JEE Main. ‘I had aspirations of becoming an engineer but didn’t know how. There was no one to guide me and even the resources were very limited. Frustration had crept in but DC Sir’s Sapno ki Udan programme was like an oasis in the desert’ remarked, a jubilant Deepa Purti.
The ‘Sapno ki Udan’ programme will be extended to include boys also from the next batch and later on coaching and guidance will be provided for Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) and Chartered Accountant (CA) exams also.
Just a slight change in the attitude and a bit of handholding, even the government school students can become conquistador and with such wherewithal at their disposal , even for them sky is the limit and horizon its boundary.