A little help lets underprivileged students dream big

Mumbai: At a time when getting a berth in a NEET (National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test) can burn holes in the pockets and can cost as much as Rs3 lakh, a group of medical practitioners is coaching aspirants from underprivileged backgrounds get their share of guidance for free. The Lift for Upliftment (LFU) movement, that began in 2015 has already helped over a hundred students from poor families to crack the exam.

Atul Dhakane initiated the project with With a 10-15 like-minded students while pursuing an MBBS degree. “I realized that many students from poor backgrounds and from rural areas are not able to afford coaching. We started looking out for needy students who wanted to crack the exam and coached them in a small class room of a city-run school in Pune,” he recounts, adding that six of the 36 students from that first batch were successful. In 2017, this number rose to 11. In 2020, 26 of 46 LFU students managed to crack the exam. “One of our successful students from the backward Phase Pardhi community, Vishal Bhosale has now completed internship after completing his MBBS studies from a government college in Solapur,” Dhakane adds proudly. “About 60 students register with LFU every year, and 48 took the NEET this past July,” he adds.

LFU is now looking forward to branching out in tribal areas to coach medical aspirants there. The body had opened a centre in Melghat area of east Maharashtra, where the project was called Ulgulan (great tumult)—after the tribal uprising started by freedom fighter Birsa Munda but the effort failed to get desired results. “The atmosphere there was not conducive for preparing for the exam. So, the next year, we shifted students to Pune and 16 students cracked NEET; eight secured admission in government medical colleges,” he said.