CCL Ke Lal aur CCL Ki Ladli, an innovative corporate social responsibility project of Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), has come out with flying colours in the recently declared JEE (Mains) merit list after 11 of its 16 students scored 90 and above percentiles.

Siddhant Shekhar of Tukadih village in Bokaro district, whose father works with Tata Steel as a Group-D employee, secured 99.25 percentile, the highest among the 16. Vicky Kumar Sinha, a resident of Piparwar in Chatra district, scored 98.64 percentile. Vicky lost his father at a very tender age.

Bittu Kumar of Bhurkunda in Ramgarh district and son of a daily-wage labourer scored 94.68 percentile.

“CCL gave them a platform to fulfil their dreams. Everyone in CCL comes from the economically weaker section of society,” said Gopal Singh, the chairman and managing director of CCL.

Singh had started the project in 2012-13 as part of the CCL’s CSR. “In April, another JEE (Mains) examination will be held after which a joint merit list will be prepared. Those selected will be eligible to appear for JEE (Advanced), the entrance test for admission to the IITs. Since the percentiles of these boys are high they are eligible for admission to the NITs,” said Jitendra Kumar, a deputy manager with CCL, who teaches physics at the coaching centre.

Under the programme, students appearing for Class X exams are selected through a state-level test. The chosen ones get free coaching for two years under the CCL Ke Lal aur CCL Ki Ladli.