Seventeen students studying in government-run tribal schools in Betul district have cracked the national eligibility cum entrance test (NEET) to secure admission in medical colleges across the country. This is the highest number of tribal students from one district to have successfully navigated the NEET.
This achievement gains even more significance since the past four years saw zero selections in medical colleges from Betul tribal schools.
“The achievement is the result of the hard work and dedication of the students and the teachers of the schools. They were determined to perform well at the national-level test. The result of the NEET becomes more significant as all the students belong to underprivileged families,” district collector Gyaneshwar B Patil told HT.
“Out of the 17 students, 10 belong to scheduled tribe community, while the remaining seven belong to the other backward class community,” he said.
Patil said that the district administration organised study material for the students in their language, which helped them crack the test.
“As the students belong to tribal areas, there was a language barrier, which was making it difficult for them to understand the (original) study material. To make things easier for them, the district administration bought study material from reputed coaching institutes in Kota. Our teachers then customised them according to the need of the students and make them understand it in their language,” he said.
“Smart classes were also organised, with audio-visual study material making the learning process more interactive for the students,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Smart classes were also organised, with audio-visual study material making the learning process more interactive for the students,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Betul district assistant commissioner (tribal welfare) Rajesh Singh Parihar said students of the government-run school have also performed well in the joint entrance examination(JEE) for admission in engineering colleges.
“With a commendable result in the 2016 NEET and JEE-Main, the district administration has set a target of minimum 100 selections in JEE and minimum 30 selections in NEET in 2017,” he told HT.