Braving the odds a tribal girl student from a remote agency village in Kothagudem district excelled in academics and secured admission in IIT Patna in Bihar. The student, Korsa Lakshmi was born to Kannayya and Shanthamma, a Koya tribal couple from Katayagud village of Dummugudem mandal in the district. Her parents are both illiterate. Her father sells ice popsicles door to door in the surrounding villages and her mother is a housewife.

Though illiterate, her parents wanted their daughter to study well to grow in her life and enrolled their daughter at the local Gurukul. From class 7 to Intermediate she studied in Bhadrachalam Government Tribal Girl’s Gurukul CoE. She scored 10/10 GPA marks in SSC.

Lakshmi got 992 marks out of 1000 in Intermediate (MPC) in the academic year 2021-23. She was trained for JEE Mains and Advanced by expert faculty at Bhadrachalam Tribal Gurukul Centre of Excellence (CoE).

She secured 1371 rank in the recent JEE Advanced examination and secured admission in B Tech (EEE) in IIT, Patna. Thus became a role model for many girls and proved that nothing is impossible to achieve and anyone can reach higher heights despite their poor family background.

ITDA Bhadrachalam encouraged Lakshmi in her studies. The ITDA Project Officer Prateek Jain and Regional Coordinating Officer of Tribal Gurukuls and ITDA APO (General) David Raju appreciated the student for shining in IIT exams.

The PO, Jain not only presented the student an iPad worth Rs.80, 000 and a sophisticated mobile phone as an incentive. In addition to that Bhadrachalam ITDA provided the student admission fee of Rs.74, 531 required for her to join the course.

Prateek Jain informed that special training is being given for tribal students at Bhadrachalam Tribal Gurukul to help them excel in JEE Mains and others. Education offered here is on par with corporate educational institutions.

JEE Mains and NEET classes are going on at the Gurukul CoE with the guidance and advice of experts from the Tribal Gurukul Society from Hyderabad. The classes are being monitored regularly and students are encouraged to pursue higher education, the ITDA PO added.