Daughter of small shop owner in a Punjab village makes it to IIT-Guwahati — with little push from an oil refinery
Khushi is pursuing Civil Engineering at IIT, Guwahati after being selected for a programme run by a refinery in Bathinda.
3 min read
She is a student of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati.In 2023, Khushi enrolled in a local college after clearing her Class 12 board examination from a government school in a village in Punjab’s Bathinda with flying marks. Khushi, whose father repairs mobile phones at a small shop in the Bhucho Kalan village, dreamt of studying engineering at elite institutions after watching the web series Kota Factory.
Despite being a sharp student, she buried her dream due to a lack of resources. One day, on her way to college, she got the message that she had cleared the Super 100 programme run by Guru Gobind Singh Refinery in Bathinda to identify 100 underprivileged students and provide them coaching for the entrance exams to elite institutions. She is now a student of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati.
“While studying in a government school, I never imagined I would get an opportunity to study at an institution like IIT. After being selected for the Super 100 programme, I took a gap year and went to Delhi for 11 months for residential coaching and cracked the exam. The refinery funded my stay, food, and tuition fees. Now, I am studying at ITI Guwahati. My father had a dream that I should become an engineer. Now, I am in a position to become one,” said Khushi.
She worked hard and cleared Joint Entrance Examination Mains and then JEE Advanced, and during counselling, she secured a seat at IIT Guwahati. She said she would be the first engineer in her family to study at a prestigious institution like IIT Guwahati.
Khushi is not the only one to be selected for Guru Gobind Singh Refinery’s Super 100 programme. The refinery partnered with the Centre for Social Responsibility and Leadership (CSRL), Delhi, to participate in the National Super 100 programme for the underprivileged through education. After conducting a competitive exam among 600 students from 22 schools in the Bathinda district, the refinery selected eight students and sent them to CSRL in July 2023, where they received 11 months of residential coaching.
Harpreet Singh from the Burj Gil village was also among the eight students who were selected for the programme. He said after clearing his Class 12 from the government secondary school in Phool town, he dreamt of pursuing engineering, However, due to financial constraints and lack of guidance, he enrolled in a private college.
It was a big surprise for him when he got selected for the Super 100 programme. He is now pursuing a Mechanical Engineering course at Dr B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Jalandhar. “My father works at a cold store. He has no idea what NIT is. But it was his hard work in life that motivated me to concentrate on my studies and crack the exam,” said Singh.
Sahil from Maur Mandi in Bathinda and Pawandeep Singh from Hasta Kalan village in Fazilka also have similar journeys. Like Harpreet, they have also selected for NIT, Jalandhar.
You May Like
