New Delhi: When 19-year-old Kamlesh Mali entered the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay campus last year, he was overwhelmed. Fresh from a village in the Hindi heartland, he felt intimidated by the shiny buildings and confident city people who knew exactly what to do.
“I was lost on the large campus. I didn’t know how to complete my admissions process, what documents to get, or which office to go to.”
Fortunately for him, this feeling of unease did not last long. As an alumnus of a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) in Madhya Pradesh’s Junapani village, Mali had a strong support network to show him the ropes.
Students of JNVs – a system of Kendriya Vidyalayas for talented students from rural areas – have an impressive record when it comes to cracking the grueling entrance exam for the elite IITs, but fitting into metropolitan university settings remains a challenge for many. Can be challenging. It is at this front that JNV alumni networks across the IITs help newcomers overcome culture shock.
For example, at IIT-Bombay, the JNV network currently consists of around 250 students, who use WhatsApp groups as their primary communication platform. All freshers of JNVs are invited to attend.
Akash Kunthe, a fourth-year BTech student who studied at a JNV school in Buldhana, Maharashtra, before joining IIT-B, said, “We usually welcome other JNV students and then help them with the admission process. “
“Since most JNV students come from villages, they are not as polished as the city ones. They do not know how to hold a conversation and generally what to talk about. We share our experiences with them and help them assimilate.”
At IIT-Gandhinagar too, a JNV network comes forward to assist students in everything from admissions to placements. This sense of fellowship extends to other issues as well, said Harshvardhan Parmar, a second-year mechanical engineering student who did his schooling from JVU Shajapur in Madhya Pradesh.
“The brother of one of our seniors fell very ill last year, but his family could not afford the treatment. The entire JNV student body rallied in her support and we were able to raise a fund of around Rs 7 lakh with the help of our friends in and outside the campus.
JNV alumni studying in IITs in Roorkee, Kanpur and Kharagpur told ThePrint similar stories of how their support network provided a social, emotional and practical lifeline. Around 300 JNV students live in each of these campuses, the students said.
Read also: No life, no hobbies, fatigue, lost childhood – the price students pay for a coveted IIT seat
‘Equal to Kota, only better’
Over the years, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas have built a reputation for academic achievement, with a high number of students making it through the cut-throat competition. entrance examinations For Engineering and Medical Colleges.
Established in 1989 and run by an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education, JNVs as of now have 661 residential schools across India, all affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). JNVs provide education from class 6 to 12 and admit students who clear the selection test conducted when they are in class 5.
When the students are in the 10th standard, they have to appear for the second selection test. If they clear it, they are enrolled in special coaching programs for IIT Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical colleges.
These coaching programs are run by an NGO called Dakshina Foundation, which entered into an exclusive tie-up with the JVU governing body – Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti – in 2006 to train students for competitive exams.
Dakshina conducts an examination at the JNV and based on the merit and financial status of the student, qualified candidates are selected for a two-year residential program at one of the NGO’s six campuses.
“We are equivalent to the quota model of training, only better,” said Commander Arun Kumar Mishra, chief executive officer of Dakshina Foundation, himself an IIT alumnus. “Our success rate is 70 per cent and we aim to go higher. We provide 24 hours psychological and academic support to our students.
The NGO claims that it has trained 6,400 students since 2007 and currently has 1,400 students studying in its six campuses.
So far, 3,015 students have secured IIT seats and 1,080 have secured admission in government medical colleges.
In addition to the two-year program, Dakshina runs an even more rigorous year-long accelerated module, in which class 12 students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas who want to drop a year to prepare for such competitive exams are trained. goes.
“We have an almost strict military style of working, in which students are motivated to achieve academic excellence,” Mishra said. “Since these students belong to the lower economic strata of the society, they are willing to walk the extra mile and put in the effort to achieve success.”
However, even if they are prepared academically, students sometimes face other social and emotional challenges in IITs.
Social divide in IIT
Traditionally, IITs have been the province of middle class, upper caste men. While affirmative action policies such as reservations for women and oppressed sections of society have attempted to address the disparity, campus life is still more challenging for some groups than others.
Some of the most common problems IIT students have complained about include caste-based discrimination, elitism, and performance pressure.
Last year the Ministry of Education answer In reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, it was stated that 63 per cent of the dropouts from the top seven IITs were from reserved categories.
IIT-Guwahati had the worst record, with 88 per cent dropouts being from reserved categories. IIT-Kharagpur had the highest number of dropouts, with 79 students leaving the institute in a span of five years. More than 60 percent of these students belonged to the reserved category.
In 2015, a Survey It was conducted at IIT-Bombay to examine whether students feel inferior for not being able to speak fluently in English. The move was taken after a student, who was battling with his inability to speak English and perform well academically, committed suicide.
another report good In 2013 it was found that the economic divide among students in IITs is stark and increasing year by year. This trend started only after institutes took steps to enable economically weaker students to crack JEE.
dalit and adivasi workers It has long been argued that the discrimination faced by students from these communities is highly disproportionate.
IIT, however, can be tough to navigate even for others. Earlier, a campus counselor at an IIT told ThePrint on condition of anonymity that the students who usually make it to the IITs are those who consistently top their school classes.
In IIT, however, they may feel lost among many other equally brilliant students. “A lot of students also sink into depression because they are no longer the face of academic brilliance that they are used to. They sit in a class with many other students like them, which makes it difficult for them to compete. Away from home, these students need a support system,” the counselor said.
The challenge is too difficult for students who may feel themselves to be social misfits. But when they bond together, that sense of community becomes a source of not only comfort but pride.
As IIT-Gandhinagar’s Parmar said: “Being a JNV student is seen as a privilege in IIT campuses.”
(Edited by Asawari Singh)