IIT-JEE training for poor students

Children from financially weak backgrounds in Maharashtra, who aspire to qualify the joint entrance examination (JEE) for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have help at hand. IITian’s Pace, a coaching centre, has decided to train underprivileged children who have the potential to get through the JEE — free of cost.

“It is modelled on the lines of Bihar’s ‘super 30’, which selects a group of 30 IIT aspirants from poor families and provides them with free coaching,” said Praveen Tyagi, managing director, IITian’s Pace.

“I belong to a village and had to struggle for my education. We want to ensure that money and lack of facilities does not come in the way of their aspirations,” said Tyagi, an alumnus of IIT Delhi.

A two-hour test based on standard 10 mathematics and analytical ability will be conducted at Pace centres in Mumbai on November 8. It will be open to students currently studying in the 10th standard. “If some can’t come and take the November 8 test, they can call us. If there’s demand in a particular place, we’ll fix a centre there, send our representative and conduct the test,” said Tyagi.

The top 50 students who will be called the ‘aces’, will be groomed by IITian’s Pace. After the tests, parents of students selected will be also interviewed to determine and verify whether the child belongs to economically weak family.