Dakshana Scholars excel in IIT-JEE

pune: the dakshana foundation is pleased to announce that its first batch of jnv dakshana scholars came through with flying colors and did exceeding well in the iit-jee 2009. a total of 350 dakshana scholars were prepped by dakshana for 1-2 years. of these 70 qualified in the iit-jee merit list. in addition, 154 scholars made it to the extended merit list of the iit-jee, which makes them eligible to join some of india’s most elite science and technology institutes. the coaching was provided free of cost to all scholars. in addition, dakshana provided boarding and lodging for 67 scholars at faridabad (haryana) for a year – also at no charge. the program is designed to permanently lift impoverished families from poverty by sending their best and brightest children to the iits, nits etc. less than 4 per cent of the nearly 400,000 students made it to iit or the extended merit list this year. dakshana had a hit rate of 64 per cent - with 224 of the 350 scholars being selected. 'it is all the more remarkable because we are brand new at all this. i am grateful to the jnv system, dakshana’s staff, volunteers and iit-jee coaching service provider partners for these incredible results. we had many shortcomings and we hope to do even better in the years ahead,' said mohnish pabrai, dakshana’s founder. of the 70 scholars who qualified, the top rank holder is sumit malik from jnv kaloi (jhajjar, haryana). sumit got a rank of 1033 on the iit-jee. his father is an impoverished laborer. a list of dakshana scholars who qualified in the iit-jee by region is posted on www.dakshana.org shortly.