Kota (Rajasthan), July 1

On one hand some groups of youth in Kashmir are getting a notorious tag for stone pelting, on the other several youngsters from the Valley are converging to Kota for attending coaching classes with the dream of becoming professionals like doctors and engineers.

Currently, more than 1000 students from Kashmir, which includes over 300 girls, are estimated to be studying in various coaching institutes in Kota — the hub of coaching centres.

According to Naveen Maheshwari, director of Allen Career Institute, there are about 850 students from the Valley admitted to his centre here wanting to succeed in various national competitive exams.

“It is a matter of pride as well as happiness that the number of students coming into Kota from Kashmir for coaching is rising every year and we are committed to providing them the best environment for study here,” he said.

With inclination towards education, the youths in J&K are playing a significant role in nation building and for offering a bright tomorrow for their state, he added.

Around 500 of them appeared at NEET, JEE–mains and JEE-Advance and notably around 200 of them qualified for counselling in any of the three ‘considered to be toughest’ of the entrance tests, he claimed.

A jubilant Sayyed Kamran Gilani from Baramulla in Kashmir, who underwent coaching in Kota for two years said he was overjoyed by his success in the NEET.

He also wrote on his experiences in his web blog ‘Youth Ki Awaaz’, in an article titled ‘From Kashmir to Rajasthan: How I overcame heat, bad food and unlucky schooling for NEET 2018’.

Kamran, son of an engineer, Sayyed Farukh Ahmad Gilani, and housewife mother Gulshan Ara, said “In Kashmir, amid tension, we don’t get environment suitable to study” and that “healthy air of education and competitiveness” prevailed in Kota.

“Now I am planning to get admission at medical college, Srinagar or Aligarh Muslim University.”

Owais Shah of Kulgam in Jammu and Kashmir, who moved to Kota for coaching three years ago, has now set his eyes on becoming a doctor after having secured good marks in NEET-2018.

“I now want to be a cardiologist and serve people in Jammu and Kashmir,” Shah said adding he wanted to improve the shortcoming in medical and health services in the state.

Similarly Mohammad Muntazir manjur of Budgam in J&K has done well at the NEET and wants to join the medical profession.

The girls from J&K too are not lagging behind as far as the success in entrance tests for medical and engineering colleges are concerned.

Sana from Baramula, Arushi Jamwal from Lakhanpur and Nemrat have also come out with flying colours at the NEET.

Besides high temperature in Rajasthan, food and language problems along with homesickness have been a great challenge for these students from J&K but this has not deterred them from their career goal. — PTI