For many of the tribal students, getting a good education means either walking long distances to reach the schools or staying away from their families for months together in residential schools. This apart, their socio-economic background as well as lack of access to other facilities like mobile networks and internet connection weigh them down, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
Beating these odds, 15 students from the state's Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) have cleared the highly competitive Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main examination and are currently preparing for the JEE (Advanced) staying in Chennai. The students who have overcome the first hurdle in entering the country's premier higher education institutions have set a precedent for future students from these remote areas to aim higher, said officials.
R Hariharan, who scored 81.33% in the JEE (Main), studied at the EMRS in Sengarai in Kolli Hills in Namakkal district. Belonging to a tribal community of Malayalis, he stood first among the tribal students.
Students share experiences
"Apart from studying for the Class XII examination, our teachers ensured that we studied the additional materials from the books available in the school library helping me clear the examination. They also motivated us to apply for the competitive examinations," said Hariharan.
M Bhoomika from the same school scored 73.15%. "My father is a lorry driver and my mother is a housewife. My parents enrolled me in the residential school as it would help me to concentrate on my studies better. We also took several tests so that we are able to complete the examination on time," said Bhoomika, stated the report in The New Indian Express.
These students are currently undergoing coaching at the 45-day special residential programme of the school education department to help them clear the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE Advanced). They are part of 271 government school students who were chosen for the programme. "We study all three subjects, Physics, Chemistry and Math, daily here. Teachers help us to understand the concepts better and we also go through previous year question papers," said S Vengateswaran from Jawadhu Hills who studied at the EMRS in Pudhurnadu in Vellore district.
Top official speaks
Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) are for tribal students in Classes VI to XII in blocks with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal population. Established on over 15 acres of land, more than 95% of the students studying in these schools belong to scheduled tribe communities.
"This year, we asked the teachers in EMRS schools to give special guidance to students who were interested in taking up competitive examinations to join higher education institutions and they have shown good results. They also performed well in the Class XII examinations as six out of the eight schools registered a full pass percentage. We are planning to streamline this initiative and also include extracurricular activities like art and music by appointing specialised teachers from next year," said a top official from the tribal welfare department.
