New Delhi: In a heartening display of ambition, 12 out of 25 girls from Sarvodaya school in Uttar Pradesh have successfully cleared this year’s NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test), earning admission to medical colleges across India.
These young girls hail from modest background and have faced many financial hardships and limited access to quality coaching. Among successful candidates are Princy, daughter of a farm labourer, Pooja Ranjan, whose father works as a farmer in Sonbhadra and Shweta from Kaushambi, whose family runs a small bicycle-seat cover shop.
Princy is a student at Sarvodaya in Kaushambi district while Pooja and Shweta had also followed a similar route. The selected students were transferred to Marihan with parental consent. NEET coaching for the students started in 2024 in Marihan as a pilot project. Supports was also extended from Tata AIG and Ex-Navodayan foundation which is a network of Navodayan alumni, said a report in Times of India.
The success of these young girls has brought about a transformative boost to the reputation of the Sarvodaya schools.
Residential schools aiming to foster quality teaching
Sarvodaya Vidyalaya in Marihan in UP’s Mirzapur district has written a new success story with the selection of students to country’s top medical colleges.
The 12 girl students, who had appeared in NEET, were all from SC/ST and OBC families. This is a remarkable achievement for a school run by UPs social welfare department.
The girl students received free residential coaching at Sarvodaya school which runs classes from 6 to 12 with hostel facilities especially for students from economically weaker backgrounds., the report said.
The girl students had undertaken specialised coaching designed exclusively for the NEET aspirants. The coaching was completely free of cost, said UP social welfare minister Asim Arun.
Marihan as a ‘centre of excellence’
UP Social Welfare Director Kumar Prashant has called Marihan as “a centre of excellence” and stated that this model will be a guiding foundation to be implemented across various Sarvodaya schools across the state comprising a network of around 100 schools.
The successful students claimed that the coaching provided to them was top notch and helped them to further ace the exam.
