UP's Dalit Brothers Who Cracked IIT To Sponsor And Mentor Village Students

Raju and Brijesh Saroj, sons of a Dalit daily-wager who cracked the prestigious IIT entrance exam last month, will now adopt and mentor 10 children from their village, sponsor their education and prepare them for admission to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, which complemented their hard work and turned their fortunes. On June 21, TOI had first reported that their father, Dharamraj, did not have the money to pay the IIT admission fee. After the story appeared, the family received help that the brothers have decided to use by sponsoring other poor children like them.

"There are other bright kids in our village and surrounding areas," Raju, the younger of the two brothers, told TOI. "All of them can do wonders if they get the right education. The first step towards this is to study at JNV, Pratapgarh. But it's tough to do so given the condition in the villages. This is where they need help."

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"It was mentoring that got us to IIT," Raju said. "Otherwise, we'd have been grazing goats." The brothers will pay the annual fee for 10 poor students in their village school till Class V, and mentor them so that they are ready for the entrance test at JNV in Pratapgarh.

Brijesh said the idea of helping other children from their village was always at the back of their mind. "We decided to take responsibility for 10 students to start with when Hareram Yadav, the principal of our village school, approached us with the proposal for guiding some students for the JNV entrance test."

Raju and Brijesh said younger brother Rahul - said to be the brightest among the siblings - would coach the students "while we are at IIT".

Raju (rank 167) completed his online counselling on Thursday while Brijesh (rank 410) completed his session on Friday. They are awaiting IITs' reply by July 6 or 7. Raju's preference is electronics and communication at IIT-Kharagpur and computer science from IIT-Bombay. Brijesh has opted for aerospace engineering from IIT-Bombay, Delhi or Kanpur, and failing that, civil engineering from IIT-Kanpur. "There were many people whom we never knew or met, who were there for my family when we needed help," Dharamraj said. "Now, it's the turn of my sons to extend a helping hand to others."