The Second Wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has had a lasting impact on almost everyone. For students particularly, the lockdown has caused deep distress – the constant worry about exams being rescheduled, preparing for competitive exams online as well as the fear of an uncertain future. However, this period of grief and struggle has also given rise to many stories of courage among the student community that are a true inspiration for all. Of fighting against a situation and overcoming it and of finding opportunity in adversity.
One such story is that of 18-year-old aspiring engineer Rahul Katyal, a student of Aakash Institute in Bhiwani, Haryana.
Belonging to a low earning daily laborers family, Rahul’s family has always struggled to make two ends meet for a family of five including a sister, parents and a grandmother. Rahul’s father has been a hard working man but due to the nature of his work, he has never been paid enough. With the onslaught of the lockdown last year, his father’s income was reduced to nil. The adversities faced in life have made Rahul want to be settled on his own and be able to take care of his parents and remove all the disparities from their lives.
With family income being less than a lakh per annum, Rahul has been working really hard to achieve his dream. Focusing on the 12th board earlier, Rahul joined Aakash a few months back to focus on JEE. Since the beginning of the lockdown, he never had the required support infrastructure to study online due to which he wasn’t able to start his JEE preparations early. He recently arranged a smartphone to continue his online classes and is working hard for the competitive exam.
Stating his struggles, Rahul said, “I have seen my parents struggle to make ends meet, especially during the lockdown. My family has always motivated me even through all the hardships faced. This year in January I decided to enroll at Aakash Institute to prepare for my JEE examinations. Now I look forward to cracking my JEE Examination, that would be my first goal. One day I would like to be called an engineer and make my parents proud.”
Aakash Institute has made special efforts to ensure that students from Tier 2 cities and rural areas who were badly hit when the lockdown struck, are able to continue their studies and are not left behind. Teachers across all branches in India are making constant efforts to mentor the student, solve their doubts and them so as to overcome their infrastructure needs and any problems thereof.
Says Mr. Aakash Chaudhry, Managing Director, Aakash Educational Services Ltd, “The pandemic has disrupted the usual schedule of competitive examinations. Examinations like JEE and NEET are hard to crack and require a lot of hard work and dedication during the preparations. While safety of our students has been the top-most priority, we are also committed to provide best learning culture to achieve higher goals during such difficult times. No geographical boundaries or financial statements should be the reason why a child is unable to follow his dreams. Which is why, we at Aakash make sure to reach out to the exceptional students in such remote areas providing them as much as support possible. I am glad, Rahul has such hopes and dreams, I wish him all the best for his JEE exam. Hope he fulfils his dream of providing a better life to his family.”
Students who wish to take admission in Aakash can either take the instant Admission cum Scholarship Test (iACST) or register for ANTHE (Aakash National Talent Hunt Exam). iACST is a recently launched scholarship program conducted for students in Class 8th to 12th which offers them a chance to win upto a 90% scholarship on tuition fees.
