He gives the credit for his success to his family, self-belief and consistent hard work.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is one of the most difficult entrance examinations to crack in the country, but the NEET success story of Arvind Kumar, son of a scrap dealer, achieved a rare feat by passing NEET UG 2020.
Arvind Kumar is a native of Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh. 26-year-old Arvind is the son of a scrap dealer, and faced humiliation for years for his profession.
Arvind's mother has never attended school, and his father studied till Class 5. His uncommon name frequently caused the family to be humiliated. About twenty years ago, his father had to relocate to Jamshedpur’s Tatanagar for work around two decades ago.
After that, Arvind finished Class 10 with a mere 48.6 marks and showed a slight improvement in Class 12, scoring 60 percent marks. He had decided to follow his father's dream and become a doctor after class 12.
"But the improvement in marks at every attempt was a ray of hope that kept me concentrated on my goal," he told PTI, adding that the change in the exam structure to NEET did disturb his preparation a bit.
However, the success did not come overnight. He first appeared for the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) in 2011 now replaced by NEET has been trying every year since.
Attempt after attempts continued for nine years without success.
"But improvement in marks at every attempt was a ray of hope that kept me concentrated at my goal," he says, adding that the change in the exam structure to NEET did disturb his preparation a bit.
In 2018, Arvind moved to Kota to better prepare for the NEET examinations. His father worked extra hours to pay for the coaching in Kota for Arvind.
In his ninth attempt in 2020, he cleared NEET with AIR 11603. His rank in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category was 4392.
"I am happy and my family is proud of me that I am now going to be the first doctor in my village of around 1,500-1,600 people," said Arvind. He further added that the villagers are threatening to trap his family in a criminal case to spoil his chances of getting a government job.
Arvind said that he wanted to become an orthopaedic surgeon and hoped to get admission to a medical college in Gorakhpur. "Even a minor bone injury hurts a lot. Increasing road accidents trouble me a lot so I just wish to serve people as an orthopedic surgeon," he said.
(With PTI inputs)
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