Poverty Can’t be a barrier to success, they proved it once again! Twelve students, including a girl, Deepa Kumari, also made it to the list of successful candidates.
These students of Patwas caste (weavers, an extremely backward caste in Bihar) from Patwatoli village in Gaya district have cracked the Joint Engineering Exam (JEE) of Indian Institute of Technology this year.
But this is quite common for the Patwas, as the students from this village have been cracking IIT since 1992 and it has now more or less become a practice for them.
The children hail from poor economic families, which can’t afford tuition or coaching classes. Their parents are either illiterate or semi-illiterate and most of them have not seen the world outside.
According to Siyaram, a local resident, these youngsters instead of gossiping worthless, they indulged themselves in studying and developing their general knowledge”. “The key to their success lies in group study with students aiding each other to learn the subjects”.
“During vacations, some of the students studying in IIT and NIT, and those who have got jobs, help the juniors in their studies,” said, a local resident, he added.
The first person to gain entry into the prestigious institution from this village was Jitendra Kumar, who currently works in the US. Their number now runs into a couple of hundreds and most of them are well-placed in India and abroad.
The study group has become a big hit that it is now attracting students from neighboring villages. Every success story inspired many more with the economic profile of the village changing gradually and several youngsters making it to the top posts of well-known companies.
The aim of the study group is not limited to just cracking the IIT. Many are also preparing for other competitive examinations like medicine, banks and management courses. A silent revolution is taking place in this village without any media glare.