20-year-old Shashi, from New Delhi, aimed to become a doctor since childhood. However, she thoroughly believed that her dream may never become a reality owing to the hefty coaching fees for competitive examinations.
“My dream was to become a doctor, for which I had to crack a competitive entrance examination for admission into a medical college. To get the right training and proper guidance to pass the examination, joining a coaching institute was absolutely necessary. However, getting into a higher coaching institute itself was impossible for me given the poor financial condition of my family. Medical college, therefore, was out of the picture. I remember how hopeless I used to feel, pondering over how I could not live up to my (and my family’s) dream,” she stated.
Today, Shashi is a medical student at Lady Hardinge Medical College, getting trained to become a successful doctor. A driver that paved way for the actualisation of her dream is the Delhi Government’s Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana. She says, “Today I have a lot of respect for our Delhi government… My brother and my sister are also inspired.”
Launched in 2018, Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana was aimed at providing free coaching to students from the SC/ST community in preparation for examinations conducted by UPSC, DSSSB, SSC, Railway Recruitment Board and others. In September this year, the Delhi cabinet gave its nod to include students of Other Backward Caste (OBCs) and General category in the Scheme’s ambit. Further, they increased the financial assistance from ₹40,000 to ₹1 lakh for the coaching of competitive examinations.
Since its inception, the scheme has provided free coaching to 4963 students. Out of this, 107 students have been coached for Engineering or Medical Entrance and have qualified the JEE Main and NEET Exam. 35 students have gotten admission into IIT Delhi, NIT Delhi and BAMS, BHU. Results for other exams are still awaited.
“If capability is not given an opportunity, it gets suppressed. Dr Ambedkar, who received scholarships for higher education from Sayajirao Gaekwad and Sahuji Maharaj is evidence of that. Cognizant with this, we launched capability development schemes including Jai Bheem Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana and Financial Assistance Scheme for Higher Education Abroad. At the time of launching the former, we had not envisaged this degree of miraculous achievements. The duration of the training was also less at the time, approximating five months. In this one year itself, we have seen that 35 out of 107 students (whose results are declared) have gotten placement in the higher institutes of their choice. While we wait for the results of our other students, we have expanded the training duration to a year, expanded the eligible beneficiaries to OBC and General as well, and are launching an online portal to streamline processes,” said Delhi’s Minister of Social Welfare, Rajendra Pal Gautam.