Tribal students from Maharashtra’s remote villages have scripted success in this year’s NEET 2021. Many tribal students from Gadchiroli and Melghat districts have passed the recently conducted National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) 2021 and would soon join the medical colleges for undergraduate degree courses in medicine.
Suraj Pungati (19), a native of Gadchiroli’s Nagargunda village is ecstatic by his own performance as it was beyond his expectations; he scored 378 out of 720 in NEET. He is the first person from his village to have cracked the NEET.
He has been a brilliant student throughout his academics by securing 92 % marks in high school board exams in 2019. Another trailblazer Sawan Shilaskar (21) from a small village Ghota in Melghat region of Amaravati district, also from a marginal farming family has achieved 294 score out of 720 in NEET.
The journey for both the students has not been easy because of the limited resources, but as it’s said there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. An NGO called Lift For Upliftment (LFU) has been organising free coaching classes run by MBBS students and doctors in Pune. The NGO teaches underprivileged and marginalised students who cannot afford costly private tuitions.
Every year many students from the NGO clear NEET, including a few from tribal communities of Maharashtra. Many of the LFU pass outs are now studying in medical colleges.
