Lekhraj Bheel, an 18-year-old guy and the son of MNREGA labourers from Rajasthan, is one such person whose story needs to be told so that it would serve as an epic source of inspiration to other youths across the nation.
Bheel, who don’t even know what JEE exam is, became the first one from Rajasthan village to crack the exam.
His parents who ply their trade as MNREGA labourers are illiterate. Bheel and his family hail from Mogayabeeh Bhilan village in Jhalawar district, Rajasthan.
“I did not know what an engineer is and could not even dream that my son would become a graduate. Now I’m at the top of the world as he is going to become the first engineer in our local Bheel community and in the village,” delighted father said, as quoted to as saying by news agency PTI.
Now both parents- father Mangilal and mother Sardari Bai who are illiterates believe that their son would take the family out of poverty and that they won’t have to work as labourers.
“They have to work hard to feed the family. I want to complete engineering degree and take care of them,” he said.
The teenager student went on to add saying that he would like to create awareness about education in his village where most people are illiterate and make ends meet by doing only labour work.
Lekhraj also went on to thank his teacher Jasraj Singh Gujjar, principal and director of his coaching institute in Kota for their constant efforts to prepare Lekhraj for the examination. His teacher Jasraj spoke about the efforts and hard work Lekhraj had put in which reaped rewards later on.
He also told that Lekhraj was unaware about the career options he had and hadn’t even heard of the JEE exam.
Jasraj added that Lekhraj topped the Jhalawar district by scoring 93.83 per cent marks in Class X board exam and had also received a laptop from the then CM Vasundhara Raje for his impressive achievement.
The teacher told that Lekhraj scored 96 and 97 marks in Mathematics and Science respectively despite the fact that the school administration did not have any teacher for those two subjects.
Everyday, Lekhraj would walk 6 km from his village to hit the school and his teachers were quite impressed with his attitude, hard work and they also advised his family to send him to Kota for further coaching.
The family was interested to send him but didn’t have enough budget and then Jasraj helped him.
He took Lekhraj to Kota and then met Naveen Maheshwari, the director of a coaching institute who helped Lekhraj at the need of the hour by granting him free admission, accommodation and food.
“The studies were tough in first few months because of my Hindi medium background but with the teachers’ help, the situation improved,” Lekhraj said, adding he would study for 7-8 hours a day.