IAS Officer’s ‘Second Chance’ Is Helping Bastar’s Tribal Students Clear NEET & JEE

When you’re a kid and asked about your future aspirations, the answers often range from wanting to be a teacher, or an astronaut, or a lawyer. However, for Rahul, hailing from the Naxal-affected region of Chhattisgarh, his sole dream was to become a doctor.

As he grew older, his determination strengthened, but the financial constraints became apparent. Rahul couldn’t afford expensive NEET coaching to clear the exam.

This year, his dream materialised as he passed the NEET exam, thanks to the ‘Second Chance’ initiative led by Bastar’s Collector, IAS Vinit Nandanwar under the government’s ‘Touch the Sky’ campaign. Rahul is among 65 children who successfully cleared NEET and JEE through this.

Being the first IAS officer from Bastar, Vinit intimately understood the community’s issues. He aimed to ensure that the lack of facilities in Naxal areas wouldn’t impede these children from realising their dreams. Emerging from an underprivileged background, Vinit lacked guidance on becoming an officer but held unwavering faith that he could achieve it.

Finally, after giving four attempts, he was able to clear the exam. So when he got transferred to the area, he wanted to help kids like him. He modified the ‘Touch the Sky’ government scheme and initiated the ‘Second Chance’ campaign. 

“The existing scheme provided free coaching to children. I understand the challenges of failure, having cleared my exam on my fourth attempt. The ‘Second Chance’ campaign offers an additional year of free coaching to children who did not succeed in their initial attempt,” he explains.

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Presently, Vinit is dedicated to using the same strength of education to try and change the image of the Naxal-affected region.

Watch this short video to learn more about his work:

Edited by Padmashree Pande

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