Indore district administration has launched a project “Hundred Kalam” where 100 underprivileged students will be given free coaching for a year and will be trained to appear in Joint Engineering Exams (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
APJ Abdul Kalam, the 11th President of India, formerly belonged to a poor family. His father Jainulabdeen was a Boat owner in Madras Presidency of British controlled India. He had to face a lot of struggle in his life since his birth in October 1931 as a child. He even had to sell newspapers on stations and streets and do similar menial jobs to help his family in earning daily bread and butter.
After 70 years of dedicated hard work, struggle and expertise in the field of science, APJ Abdul Kalam sir got elected as 11th president of India. Not only as a president but also as a person and as a scientist, he was a great individual who leads India towards new development in the field of space programs and advances defence systems. He is credible for India’s Civilian Space Program as well as for the development of several military missiles and rocket launching systems.
Kalam sir was very loved children and was aspired to at educating people. In his last years, he even used to take lectures at national institutes like IIT & IIM. He always fostered the idea of staging students who have the will and energy to study but could not because of their poor conditions. Being from a poor family, he knew the struggles of living an underprivileged life.
“Project Kalam 100”
Getting inspiration from Kalam sir and to honour the former President and the “Missile Man” of India, Indore district administration along with Extra Marks education institute has initiated free learning program for underprivileged students. Under this program, 100 students will be selected from the underprivileged section of the society and will be given free coaching and training to appear in highly competitive examinations like IIT-JEE & NEET.
Besides, the student coming from out of the district will be given free accommodation food and transportation services as well. Further, as described by the officials the one year course will begin on 1st September this year.
Who will be benefitted
The course will be providing free education to only those children who are raised by a single or widowed or divorced mother or has a disabled parent or is a grade 3 or grade 4 government employee. Apart from this, a student needs to have a minimum of 70% marks in their class 12th standard examination to be eligible for the free education and accommodation program.
It is being reported that more than 1000 applications have been received from students from various places. Out of these 1000+ applications, only 150 students have been shortlisted for the entrance test purpose under the 1st screening process. The test will be conducted by Extra Marks Institute.
Further in the second level of screening a total of 100 students will be selected. 50 students will be prepared for engineering and 50 students will be prepared for medical entrance exams. The shortlisting will be done based upon a student’s aptitude which will be the primary focus of the test. The second screening process was held on 21st August, Wednesday and the results are yet to be announced.
About Extra Marks Institute.
“Extra Marks Institute” (EMI) is a Smart Learning-based Coaching centre chain. It is the primary organization in this project. EMI is conducting this program as a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The coaching chain is run by Extra Marks, a leading educational technology company. EMI has around 25+ smart learning centres in 18 cities across India where a staff of 2000+ experts and faculties is engaged in imparting smart and high-quality education to the students.
The institute uses advanced technology to impart education such as smart classes and online learning. They also have a learning app which can be installed on your mobile phone to have study solutions on the go. Institute primarily provides education to students preparing for Engineering, Medical Management and those preparing to go abroad to study at institutes like MIT for their graduation and postgraduation.
E-education enables the program.
The program also enables students to avail facilities of appearing in the mock test papers online and take part in a free test at Test Practices at centres powered by National Testing Agency(NTA) across India. The students can also visit the website at www.nit.ac.in and download the NTA Students App. They can also view the results of the mock mock test online. Further, the website has a section where students can discuss their doubts regarding the results and mistakes with mentors online.
What Local Authority has to say…
Talents of several students get wasted due to non-accessibility to resources and lack of guidance. These day Coachings for competitive examinations is a costly affair. This deprives underprivileged students of pursuing their dreams. Project 100 Kalam will give students easy access to study materials and professors from socially and economically backward sections,” said Lokesh Kumar Jatav District, District Collector, Indore while Speaking to The Better India (TBI).
India is a developing nation but the main source of our development are the children who will become the future of the nation. If these young talents are not driven in the right direction, then a lot of potential skilled force will be lost in the crowd of billions. These days, several organizations, companies and educational institutes are coming forward to take part in uplifting the underprivileged students. It is programs like “Project 100 Kalam” & Anand Super-30 which handpicks the students and polish them to become high-end professionals soon.
Currently, Indore district administration has proposed to conduct “Project 100 Kalam” for a year only. This project could become reality due to the funding and support received from Extra Marks Institute under their CSR program. “To make it an annual initiative, we will need money. We hope that this project is successful so that we can bank on it to get CSR funding,” says Jatav.
We sincerely hope that either Extra Marks or a similar organization comes forward next year to help the local authorities in continuing this divine mission of imparting free education.
