By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
Srinagar: For Jaffer Majeed, 19, an orphan, from Soura locality in Srinagar, qualifying JEE Mains was like a dream he considered impossible until some years ago. Being supported by one of his uncles, life has always remained a litmus test for Majeed. Having a fire inside to do something in life but unavailability of someone to guide used to haunt him till he qualified his senior secondary exam.
“Here in Kashmir, the belief is, one can only qualify JEE if he/she gets his/her coaching from institutes outside Kashmir and I too was into that belief until my 10th Standard,” Majeed told TwoCircles.
After finishing his intermediate level exams, he came to know about RISE, a valley based mentoring centre for competitive exams started by three IITians from three different parts of India including one from Kashmir. Waiving most of his fee, RISE carved him and prepared him for JEE and he too did brought laurels by qualifying the prestigious exam. He got 125 marks which ensures that he can get into some premier engineering institute.
“I could not afford any conventional institute, I wasn’t hoping to get admission to any premium institute. But RiSE played a pivotal role by waiving out most of my fee and gave me a yearlong sustained guidance,” he added.
In Kashmir, synonymous with conflict, along with the addition of prevailing dystopia in which everyone finds himself in has always been playing a spoilsport for students aiming to do something in their lives by staying back in the valley. Even India’s premier coaching Institutes, who do open up their branches in almost all major cities avoid starting the same in Kashmir; the security factor and non signing up of non local tutors being the major reason which leads thousands of Kashmiri students every year to migrate outside the valley for good coaching centers in Jammu, Delhi, Kota and elsewhere.
As it is said, there are many who want to pay back to their community and bring a change in other lives, likewise, many Kashmiris who excelled in their studies, profession and those who gained expertise started to come back to Kashmir and initiate their own set Ups, most importantly after 2010. RISE was also one among them, started by a bunch of dedicated, zealous IITians to coach and empower poor talented Kashmiri students to get into prestigious educational institutions.
Like Majeed, Umair Ali a son of small time shopkeeper from Village Akingam in Anantnag district also got chance to get coached at RISE. He got 165 marks in JEE main out of 360 and he is one among the top scorers in Kashmir Valley.
“Getting taught in Valley-based coaching institute and qualifying JEE has never been the case here. It feels good that trend is changing and it will also relive thousands of other students who do migrate coaching centers outside Kashmir,” said Ali.
RiSE, since its inception, has made way for some three dozen students to different National Institute of Technology (NITs), Birla Institute of Technology (BITS) besides cracking several state level exams.
“RISE also uses a App made by its co founders and other software tools for its own students to track their progress and streamline teaching methodologies. In fact this is one of the primary reasons for the success of our students, whose performances are outliers among their peers,” said Imbesat Ahmed, Co founder of RISE.
But this year, the three member RISE staff has much to cheer about, as more than 35 students from their institute have qualified for JEE Advanced examination, which is a gate way to IITs across the country.
The highlights of the results is Kaleem Khan who scored 221 points out of 360, the highest in the valley. Students of RISE have also taken the JEE Advanced examination, conducted on 22 May and it is hopeful that many of its students will be able to secure admissions to IITs, thereby encouraging their fellow Kashmiri’s to chase the same .Also, approximately 40 of their students are expected to get admissions to National Institute of Technology .
“All I can say about RISE is that it is a blessing for we Kashmiris. Otherwise to get taught by such highly qualified staff, who charges minimum and even free to those who can’t pay isn’t possible in Kashmir. I specially dedicate my success to Mubeen Sir, Imbesat Sir and Salman Sir & Saifi Sir,” Kaleem Khan told TwoCircles.net.
Importantly, every year only 60-70 Kashmiri students end up making it to NITs, where as the available seats at NIT Srinagar for home state students are 300, which remain almost unfilled.
Rise has undertaken various activities prominently the valley wide talent search examination for more than 15000 students to identify talented students and provide them with adequate mentoring in pursuit of their aims and ambitions. RISE has also developed educational tools like the RISE APP, where students get access to quality content and test papers for various examinations.
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RISE and shine: opportunity for Kashmiri students to be IITian/NITian