Antara Paul, Sagar Gupta and Aranya Dutta are among hundreds of students from Assam who, in the days to come, will hold aloft the name of their State with their academic achievements. They are all beneficiaries of the efforts of the Assam State Youth Commission (ASYC) in providing professional coaching to students for NEET, JEE (Advanced), a move that has garnered all-round appreciation for the State Government. This, in turn, has encouraged the Government to increase the number of centres to more towns in the days to come.
These three were products of the Dibrugarh centre of Allen Career Institute, a State Government-driven coaching centre opened in association with the Kota-based private coaching centre. This year, 153 out of its 220 students cleared NEET and JEE.
The agreement with Allen by the State Government was signed in January last year. Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurated the centre at Phoolbagan area in Dibrugarh city.
Elated over the results emanating from the centre, the Assam Chief Minister recently announced that the State Government will open three more centres to help students from the science stream to realise their ambition of joining the best institutions across the country in their chosen fields.
“Currently, around 600 students are taking coaching at the Dibrugarh coaching centre while we have 106 students in the Tezpur centre. Starting this year, new coaching centres will come up in Nalbari, Silchar and Jorhat,” he informed the media.
ASYC would be the nodal agency from the State Government to oversee these Government-sponsored coaching centres. The New Delhi-based Centre for Social Responsibility & Leadership provides coaching for NEET and JEE in Tezpur.
“We have done a lot of things for the poor and middle-class people. These world-class coaching institutes for students with financially challenged background is yet another effort from our end,” said Dr. Sarma.
“We have done a lot of things
Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma
for the poor and middleclass people. These worldclass coaching institutes for
students with financiallychallenged backgrounds is yet
another effort from our end”
On June 15, Dr. Sarma visited the Allen centre in Dibrugarh and felicitated eight students from the institute who excelled in NEET and JEE (Advanced) this year.
The Chief Minister highlighted the importance of helping students to secure seats in leading medical and engineering colleges across the country. Dr. Sarma also emphasised inclusivity, and added, “In the last five years, there has been a trend in Assam where NEET and JEE coaching centres were being established as profit centres, meant primarily for a particular section of society. However, our centres will prioritise talented students, irrespective of caste, creed, and community.”
Bhaskar Papukon Gogoi, member, ASYC, the nodal person responsible for all affairs of the State Government-sponsored coaching at the Dibrugarh centre, informed Asom Barta that enrolment here is based on performance in a test.
“Based on directives from the Chief Minister, we will establish several coaching centres with nominal fee to cater to middle-class and economically disadvantaged students. We will collaborate with top coaching institutes in the country in fulfilling our objectives,”said Gogoi.
Gogoi said that the Dibrugarh centre is meant for students of Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Charaideo, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Jorhat districts while Tezpur centre is meant for those from Sonitpur, Biswanath, Golaghat, Nagaon, Morigaon and Darrang districts.
“Initially, we had to campaign about our scheme. As words spread, we witnessed a large number of students seeking enrolment here,” said Gogoi.
Gogoi said that under the ‘Bikoxito Jibon Porikolpona Scheme’, ASYC in collaboration with Allen Career Institute conducted a scholarship examination in various districts. “The examinations was aimed to provide quality education and coaching to students who had just passed their Class 10th,” added Gogoi.
Students who get 100% scholarship can save ₹2 lakh which is generally the fee in a private coaching centre meant for such courses.
Antara, 19, from Namrup is one of the successful candidates who had cleared this year’s NEET and is expecting a seat in a good medical college to study MBBS. She had initially enrolled at the Guwahati centre of Allen. However, after successfully clearing the entrance test, she got a 90%scholarship to join this State Government-assisted centre.
Sagar, 20, from Dhola in Tinsukia, is currently a student of Metallurgical Engineering at IIT, Dhanbad. He was in the first batch of the Dibrugarh centre last year.
“My father has a small business and my mother is a housewife. I got 85% scholarship. You can imagine how big this help has been to me,” he told this reporter over the phone.
Aaranya (19) from Chabua in Dibrugarh district cleared the JEE (Advanced) last year. She is studying Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur after initially getting a seat at IIT–BHU. She was all praises for her teachers and the rigorous routine that the centre had for students like her.
