GAYA: With five of its boys making it to the merit list of IITJEE, the gateway for the prestigious engineering institutes, Patwatoli, the village on the north eastern outskirts of Gaya town has kept to its reputation of being the breeding ground of IITians.
With more than 50 IITians in its ranks, the village comprising 1,600 families and nearly 10,000 residents, has the unique distinction of having the highest IIT density in the country. Besides the 50 plus IITians, the village has, in the span of the last two decades, produced more than 200 engineering graduates, several of them being NITians.
No less important is the fact that, for the first time, two girls from the town have also cracked the test, regarded the toughest in the country. More importantly, the first girl IITians do not have the Patwatoli tag on their success report, thereby making their achievement all the more praiseworthy, says fiction writer Syed Ahmad Qadri. The girls, who made it to the 2011 IIT, are Richika Garg and Kusum Kumari. Kusum belongs to the OBC category. Richika passed the Class X examination fromNazareth Academy.
The Patwatoli boys who made it to the IIT this year are Dev Narain Prasad, Anuj Kumar, Alok Kumar, Dev Kumar and Sumit Kumar. The Magadh Super 30 patronised by senior IPS officer Abhayanand had two of its students making it to the IIT. The Magadh Super 30 boys making it to the IIT are Ajay Verma and S Kumar.
Lord Vishnu Super 30, the splinter group of Magadh Super 30, produced three IITians in its maiden attempt. The Lord Vishnu Super 30 products making it to the IIT are Harsh Ranjan, Rahul Kumar Saxena and Kusum Kumari. Both Magadh Super 30 and Lord Vishnu Super 30 operate on charity and coach talented but economically weak students.
According to activist Gopal Prasad, a Patwatoli resident who has been monitoring the performance of the village boys, the IIT success rate, this year has been less than expected. “At least 10 of my boys should have made it to the merit list,” said Gopal. In 2008, eight Patwatoli boys made it to the IIT. In 2009, the success figure came down to six and improved in 2010, when seven Patwatoli boys made it.
Nav Prayas, an organization floated by Jitendra Kumar, the first IITian from the nondescript village, has been encouraging local boys for joint study. Tips given by the seniors, brainstorming sessions and group discussion format prepared by Nav Prayas has been very helpful for the Patwatoli IIT aspirants.