Success stories mock poverty - Children of drivers, betel shopowners prove their mettle in IIT entrance examination

Vivek Verma, who ranked 5,160 in IIT-JEE, at his father’s shop near Ranchi civil court on Tuesday. Picture by Manik Bose

Ranchi, May 26: They dreamt, they worked hard and they conquered.

These young achievers have made it to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) or just about. And what makes them special — their backgrounds. They are children of drivers, betel shopowners and tribals and that doesn’t stop them from reaching their milestone.

“I am happy with my son’s success, who has cracked a tough examination like the IIT-JEE,” said Vinod Tirkey, a driver with Sai Enterprises and father of Bisheshwar Tirkey. Despite making a small income, Tirkey is confident about arranging the money for his son’s education.

The youngest of Tirkey’s three children, Bisheshwar was good in studies from childhood and did not opt for any coaching institute. He has been selected in the “extended merit list”, which allows him to take admission into any of the 15 technical institutions like the Indian Institute of Space-Science Technology, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, among others.

“I had expected a better rank. But I am happy with what I have got,” Bisheswar, a student of DAV School, Hehal, said. He passed his CBSE Class XII examinations with 88.8 per cent.

Vinod Verma, a betel shop owner near Ranchi civil court, is twice as happy. Both his sons Vivek and Vicky have cracked the exam with ranks 5,160 and 6,649, respectively. While the elder brother Vicky is now away taking care of his ailing father who is admitted at Christian Medical College, Vellore, Vivek is running the shop. “I am happy. But I had expected better,” said Vivek, a DPS student from the city. His elder brother Vicky had passed out of DPS a year ago.

According to the IIT website, this year 12,484 tribal candidates took the examinations, of which 208 qualified. Of the remaining, 641 were selected for the preparatory course (PC). Gopinath Soren, a tribal student from Jamshedpur, ranked 96, and Digvijay Singh Munda, ranked 321, both from ST category, have been placed on the PC list. They would be admitted to either the IITs, IT-BHU or ISMU Dhanbad for a one-year preparatory course before they take up a full-time degree course.

Sumit Oraon, son of former army jawan Ghura Oraon and a student of Army School here, was also selected for the one-year preparatory course.

From St Xavier’s School, Mridul Tigga, Sunny Herenj, Sourabh Benedict Lakra and Punit Kanchan Kujur have found a place on the extended merit list of IIT. Some others include Christina Hembrom, Praveen Kumar Toppo, a resident of Bariatu and Nikhil Toppo.