KOLHAPUR: Several youths from Maharashtra, who are currently pursuing higher education at different IITs (Kanpur, Kharagpur & Bombay), have come forward to provide free coaching and guidance to the JEE aspirants from the rural areas of the state who have been financially and mentally ravaged by the floods and the Covid-19.
Saurabh Borchate, who is doing a Ph.D from IIT-Kanpur in aerospace structure (mechanical engineering) and coordinator for the free JEE coaching project, said, “I am from the Jakhale village in Kolhapur district. I got most of my education at Warnanagar. Rural students are often unaware of the IITs and don’t get proper guidance in Classes XI and XII. That is why there are so few students from our region in the IITs. Over the past few years, due to the floods and the pandemic, the students in rural areas have become mentally and financially weak. However, if they get proper guidance along with notes and question banks, they can definitely crack the JEE.”
“We have formed a team of six-seven IITians from IIT Kanpur, Kharagpur, Delhi and Bombay. They will provide books (soft copies), question banks, notes and online guidance and coaching to the rural students. Those who are interested should email their details to us at borchate@iitk.ac.in,” added Borchate.
Aditya Deshpande, from the Sutala village in Buldhana, who too is pursuing a Ph.D in aerospace structure at IIT-Kharagpur, said, “As a social responsibility, we are trying to help the students from our region. We can’t go there and help the people in distress. So we thought of providing our services for free to the young students.”
Pramod Salunkhe, an associate professor at the Manipal Institute of Technology, Udupi, said, “I am from Solapur and an IIT-Bombay Ph.D holder. When the initiative to guide these students was discussed, I willingly joined the group. We have been through the entire process of getting into the IIT and know how much a student is burdened when he/she is in Class XII. Our experience will be useful to the students who aspire to write the JEE.”
Prasad Deshpande, who hails from Sangli and is a Ph.D student at IIT Kanpur in water resources (civil engineering), said, “The online lectures for these students will be taken through Cisco Webex app. We will take out time from our busy schedules and teach the students of Classes XI and XII physics, chemistry and maths. The rural students have the talent but need some polishing. They need to be shown a proper route. We will help with that.”
