Tribal girl from TN's Kalvarayan Hills achieves IIT, fulfils late father's aspiration

When A Rajeshwari, a tribal girl, steps on the sacred floors of an Indian Institute of Technology in the near future, she will be pursuing her own dream, and one that her father cherished in his heart until he lost his battle against cancer a year ago.

A Aundi, her father who was a member of the Malayali (Scheduled Tribe) people of Karumandurai village, a 65km village from Salem in the Kalvarayan Hills where there was a 90% population of tribals, was able to learn only till Class 8 because of poverty and seasonal migration.

Convinced that his four children must have a different fate, Aundi learned the art of tailoring and worked diligently to ensure them a secure education, fully assisted by his wife Kavitha. He managed to make his first two children undergraduates, which in itself is no small achievement.

Had he lived till 2024, Aundi would have not only seen the proudest moment of his life but also the start of a revolution in the lives of his family as his third child Rajeshwari will become the first tribal student of a Government Tribal Residential School managed by the state government to enter into an IIT, most probably IIT-Madras.

The student from Government Tribal Residential Higher Secondary School in Karumandurai, has attained an all-India ranking of 417 in the Scheduled Tribes quota in the JEE Advanced results released on Monday.

Rajeshwari stands a good opportunity to secure IIT-M seat

With the final ST rank for the admission into IIT-Madras in 2024 being 1,691, the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare (ADTW) Department officers and her school teachers believe that Rajeshwari, a tribal girl student from Tamil Nadu, has a bright chance of getting admission into the premier institute. But admissions to the Computer Science or Electrical Engineering streams can be tough.

Due to the efforts of the Tamil Nadu government in training students from far-flung tribal areas, some students from the 28 Government Tribal Residential (GTR) schools have gained admission to National Institutes of Technology in recent times. Rajeshwari is the first of them to crack JEE Advanced and be eligible to get into an IIT.

Coming from a poor tribal background, Rajeshwari attributed her teachers for helping her navigate the competitive exam ordeal. "My siblings were studious but were unaware of JEE. My teachers helped me," she narrated. Her father, who was education-minded, died while she was in school. Her elder brother Sriganesh became a tailorman to eke out a living for the family, while her mother is still employed as a daily wager. Rajeshwari had scored 438/500 at Class 10 and 521/600 at Class 12. She opted for the Maths-Biology stream to keep professional avenues open.

"Right from her school days, she has had a great aptitude, particularly in Chemistry and Maths," stated D Vijayan, headmaster of her school. Her teachers gave special tuition and made her conversant with the JEE pattern. For JEE Advanced, she went to a government-run residential coaching camp at Perundurai, Erode district. Rajeshwari is now undergoing a preparatory programme at Eklavya Model Residential School, Kumizhi, for training in spoken English and soft skills to ease her entry into an IIT setup.

Vijayan attributed the ADTW department's ongoing efforts — such as counselling parents, exempting application fees, and securing coaching — to make this success possible. "This success will encourage more tribal students to dream big," Rajeshwari said.