Tribal girl from TNs Kalvarayan hills cracks JEE Advanced, set to join IIT-Madras

chennai: a rajeshwari, a tribal student from tamil nadu's remote kalvarayan hills, is poised to fulfil a dream her late father once nurtured — securing admission into the prestigious indian institute of technology (iit). with an all-india rank of 417 in the scheduled tribes category in jee advanced 2025, she is on track to join iit-madras, a feat no student from her government-run tribal residential school has achieved before.hailing from karumandurai village in salem district — where 90% of the population belongs to the malayali (scheduled tribe) community — rajeshwari is the third of four children. her father a aundi, a tailor who studied only till class 8 due to poverty and seasonal migration, was determined to provide his children with a better future. he passed away from cancer in 2024, just before witnessing his daughter's remarkable achievement.a student of the government tribal residential higher secondary school in karumandurai, rajeshwari credited her teachers and the tamil nadu government's support for her success. she underwent residential coaching in perundurai, erode district, and is currently being trained in english and soft skills at eklavya model residential school, kumizhi.her school headmaster d vijayan said rajeshwari had consistently shown aptitude in chemistry and mathematics. “she is a trailblazer. this will inspire many tribal students to aim higher,” he said.officials of the adi dravidar and tribal welfare department are optimistic that rajeshwari will secure admission at iit-madras, though highly competitive streams like computer science may be a stretch.rajeshwari scored 438/500 in class 10 and 521/600 in class 12, opting for the maths-biology group to keep options open. her elder brother now supports the family as a tailor, while her mother works as a daily wage labourer.