Maha: Tribal students from remote villages in Gadchiroli, Melghat clear NEET

Tribal students belonging to small farming families from remote villages of Gadchiroli and Melghat in Maharashtra have cleared the recently conducted National Eligibility Entrance Test NEET 2021 and are soon expected to start undergraduate degree courses in medicineSuraj Pungati 19 a resident of Nagargunda village in Bhamragad taluka of Gadchiroli is happy to have surpassed his own expectations by scoring 378 out of 720 in NEETTalking to PTI the student claimed he will be the first person from his taluka to attend a medical collegePungati the son of a farmer said there are over 60 families in his village where he is the first one to take up the science stream and is happy that he will now be pursuing medical educationThe student who belongs to Mariya Gond a particularly vulnerable tribal group in the state lost his mother four years ago and has a younger brother who is studying in Class 10Pungati who studied at a school in Nagpur scored 92 per cent marks in Class 10 board exams in 2019 and thats when he decided to become a doctorAnother tribal student Sawan Shilaskar 21 the son of a marginal farmer from a small village called Ghota in Dahrni taluka of Melghat region in Amaravati district has scored 294 out of 720 in NEETAlso read NEET 2021 results 3 candidates share top rank more female students qualifyThe journey for both the students was tough due to their limited means but they got a ray of hope after coming to know about free coaching classes taken up by MBBS students and doctors in Pune through an NGO called Lift For Upliftment LFU founded by students and alumni of the B J Medical College thereThe LFU operates for underprivileged and marginalised students who do not have access to private coaching its cofounder Dr Ketan Deshmukh told PTI Pungati attended the free coaching classes offered by the LFU daily prior to the COVID19induced lockdown and was later forced to attend virtual classes from an ashram school in Hemalkasa in Gadchiroli due to the lack of internet and phone connectivity in his villageShilaskar whose father works on someone elses land and has a meager earning came to know about the free coaching classes from his seniorsHe mostly studied for NEET from his village with the guidance from LFU mentors onlineDeshmukh said they have a special batch named Ulgulaan for Melghat region students since 2017Majority of the mentors at LFU are senior medical studentsThis year 25 of our students including three from the tribal regions of Maharashtra will be taking admissions in medical colleges Many of those who have received training at the LFU are now studying in medical colleges and some have joined us as teaching faculty he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever