Aditya Kasnia always dreamt of becoming a computer science engineer. As a student of Government Senior Secondary School (GSSS), Kharian, Sirsa and son of a marginal farmer, he didn’t have the means to take coaching. Enrolled in the Super-100 program of the Haryana government, he cleared JEE Advanced on Monday with a 245th rank in the Gen-EWS category.
“We took coaching at Kurukshetra under the Super 100 program. I am looking forward to taking the computer science branch. Though all depends on the counselling,” he said.
Like him, Sakshi, daughter of a marginal farmer, completed her Class 10 at GSSS, Sorkhi, Hisar, with over 94 per cent marks. Further, in Class 12, she scored 90.2 per cent.
Super 100 provided her a chance to pursue her dream of becoming an engineer. She got the 332nd rank in the GEN-EWS category. “I am expecting to get admission to IIT Roorkee, IIT Kharagpur or IIT Madras,” she told The Tribune.
Aryan Chahal is another example of a marginal farmer’s son clearing the JEE Advanced. His father cultivates 3 acres of land in Hisar.
Out of 206 students of the Haryana Super 100 program, who appeared in JEE Advanced, 91 cleared it; over 44 per cent. 34 students are girls. 16 students are from Hisar, followed by nine from Fatehabad, eight from Faridabad and Jind and seven from Kaithal. 30 students are OBC and 37 are SCs.
Man behind the Super-100 programme
Naveen Mishra, an alumnus of IIT Delhi, is the brain behind the Haryana Super 100 program. A founding member of AAP, he quit the party after two years.
“Students have a lot of talent. But sometimes they lose their way. We started this dream in 2018 from Rewari and now we have 103 of our students studying at different IITs, 97 at NITs and 37 at other engineering colleges. More than 30 have already passed out. Also, 60 of our students are pursuing MBBS in medical colleges,” he said.
Most of the students who have qualified for JEE Advanced from Super-100 are from the SC, OBC and GEN-EWS categories. “We take only government school students through an entrance test. Most of these are from reserved categories. Even if they are from the general category, they are poor,” said Mishra.
Mishra, along with friends Rajan Gundal, who hails from Panipat and is an alumnus of IIT Delhi and IIM Lucknow and Pradeep Sansanwal of Gurugram, are running the Super-100 show in Haryana.
They provide coaching and run classes at their own premises. They even foot the electricity bill of the facility. The state government provides hostel facilities to students, chosen through an entrance test.
Mishra specifically mentioned former Chief Secretary Dharamveer, IAS Rajnarayan Kaushik, former Rewari DC and Director, Elementary Education and also Rakesh Gupta, who served as Director, Secondary Education, for helping them out.
At present, there are seven faculty members, all IIT pass-outs, who teach the students. “And two of them, Ritu, from IIT Indore, and Anju, from IIT Kharagpur, had once studied at the Super-100 program. They have chosen to come back to us,” said Mishra.
