education

Updated: Jun 13, 2016 20:01 IST

Tanmaya Shekhawat has just got on the proverbial road to success. And he even has a sleek BMW sedan to cruise towards his destination.

A coaching institute in Rajasthan’s Sikar has gifted the luxury vehicle to Shekhawat for securing the 11th position in the IIT-Joint Entrance Exam (Advanced) that selects candidates for the top technical institutes in the country.

“The director (of the institute) had announced that whoever achieves a rank under 20 in the IIT-JEE Advanced, will get his BMW. He kept his promise,” said a visibly happy Tanmaya, who aspires to be a software engineer.

The German-made vehicle is worth Rs 27.5 lakhs and has done 1,500 km since it was bought two years ago by Dr RL Poonia, the director of Samarpan coaching institute.

Though gifts and rewards are not uncommon among the numerous coaching institutes in the state, it is perhaps the first time such an expensive vehicle has been given to a topper.

The gift could also be a clever marketing ploy, according to industry experts.

Sikar, around 115 km from capital Jaipur, is seeking to replicate the success story of Kota which is acknowledged as the coaching capital of India.

Read more: Check JEE (A) results and summary, Jaipur’s Aman Bansal is topper

Every year, more than 1.5 lakh student from across the country enroll in the 40-odd coaching institutes in Kota to prepare for the highly-competitive entrance examinations for different professional courses. Kota’s coaching business runs into hundreds of crores of rupees. They are also known to produce all India toppers in most of the competitive exams.

Around 260 km from Kota, Sikar is known for its colourfully frescoed havelis – the traditional mansions in north and western India – and some highly successful entrepreneurs.

Sources said over the past few years, several coaching institutes have sprung up in Sikar. Tanmaya, who is from Churu district, was enrolled with the coaching institue for the past two years.

“For the first time someone in the district has scored a rank under 100 in IIT-JEE Advanced. Nearly 1 lakh students appeared for the exams from Kota, which is the hub of coaching institutes in India, but our student has beaten them all,” Poonia said.

Read more: Two physically challenged UP students crack JEE Advanced

But the success of Tanmaya, who is keen to study computer science in IIT Bombay, has taken some sacrifices. Tanmaya, who favourite movie is 3 Idiots, loves playing football and basketball.

Tanmaya’s father Rajeshwar Singh Shekhawat, a Biology teacher in a government school, said the youngster stayed in a kitchen of a house as “he did not want to share a room and single rooms were hard to find”.

“He is extremely dedicated and has overcome a lot of hardships to achieve this rank.” Tanmaya’s mother is also a school teacher.

Tanmaya, whose family did not have a vehicle till now, said he will learn driving before driving the BMW to his Churu home.