Two years ago, Lekhraj Bheel, the son of two MNREGA workers from Rajasthan’s Mogayabeeh Bhilan village, had not even heard of the JEE-Main Exam. In 2019, the 18-year-old boy became the first to crack the engineering entrance exam from his largely tribal village.
Lekhraj secured 10,740 category rank in JEE-Main, and wishes to pursue engineering from NIT, The Times Of India reported.
Elated by his son’s achievement, father Mangilal said, “I did not know what an engineer is and could not even dream that my son would become a graduate. Now I’m at the top of the world as he is going to become the first engineer in our local Bhil community and in the village.”
According to PTI, Lekhraj scored 93.83 percent in the tenth standard board exams, becoming the topper in Jhalawar district in 2017. He had to walk 6 km from his village to reach school every day. Despite the school being unable to employ teachers for Mathematics and Science, he went on to secure 96 and 97 marks respectively in these subjects. Seeing his high marks, one of his teachers took him to a coaching centre in Kota, which offered him free admission, accommodation and food. In Kota, he continued his school education and took coaching for the entrance exams.“The studies were tough in the first few months because of my Hindi medium background but with the teachers’ help, the situation improved,” Lekhraj said adding he would study for 7-8 hours a day.
About his future plans, Lekhraj says he intends to make taking care of his parents as his first priority. “They have to work hard to feed the family. I want to complete engineering degree and take care of them,” he said. He also wants to raise awareness about education among the youth of his village.
