A tea worker’s son in Alipurduar is set to enter an IIT campus, having cracked the highly competitive JEE Advanced 2025 without formal coaching.

Anusan Minj, 19, a resident of New Line at the Rahimpur tea garden, Birpara-Madarihat block, has secured an all-India rank of 167 in the Scheduled Tribe category.

He will pursue computer engineering at IIT-Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, from August.

Anusan’s father Linus Minj, 41, is a tea garden worker who earns ₹250 a day. His mother, Lalita, 39, works at an anganwadi centre and makes around ₹4,000 per month.

Anusan studied at the Binnaguri Kendriya Vidyalaya and passed Class XII science in 2024 with 81 per cent.

Last year, an Internet glitch prevented him from appearing for the JEE. But he kept preparing for the JEE, relying entirely on free Internet resources such as Google and YouTube.

“I always dreamt of studying computer engineering in an IIT, but I couldn’t afford coaching,” said Anusan.

Now that he has a ticket to his dream, what are his plans?

“Apart from having a stable job, I want to contribute something innovative to software engineering,” Anusan said.

Linus said he had to discontinue studies after Class X and Lalita had studied only up to Class VIII, but they always prioritised education for their children Anusan, Dwip Ranjan and Mahima, the latter two in school. “I could not study much, so I tell my children that education is the only way forward,” said Linus.