Tarandeep Singh, a 19-year-old from the city of Baramulla, has secured the highest rank in Kashmir this year in the IIT-JEE Advanced exam.
His all-India rank is 872 and he wishes to study mechanical or electrical engineering in either Kharagpur, Kanpur or Delhi.
He is the son of a utensil merchant from Kanispora, on the outskirts of Baramulla town according to a report by The Indian Express. Tarandeep stated that he expected a better performance but given the low number of people from the Valley who qualified the exam, he felt satisfied.
Tarandeep also expressed gratitude towards IITians among his seniors from school as well as his high school teachers. “It was not as if this was my childhood dream. After class X, I was inspired by IITians among my seniors at school. They are doing very well,” he told the paper. He went for coaching at Kota right after high school in 2015.
Praising his hard work, Tarandeep’s parents, Tejinder Singh and Arvinder Kaur, said that they were certain he would qualify the exam owing to the amount of effort he had put into his preparation.
We knew for sure that he would qualify as he has worked hard for two years.Tarandeep’s Parents
Only three students from Kashmir – Tarandeep, and one each from Srinagar and Anantnag – have made the JEE Advanced merit list, chairman of the Coaching Centres Association, Kashmir, GN Var, told The Indian Express.
However, an Army spokesperson said that nine more students from the force’s Kashmir Super-40, a coaching initiative for the youth of J&K, have cleared the exam.
The ‘Kashmir Super-40’ is being conducted by the Army at Srinagar in coordination with Centre for Social Responsibility and Learning (CSRL), and Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) since 2013. “Free lodging and boarding along with coaching is provided to the selected 40 students of J&K for 11 months,” the spokesman told the publication.
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