Despite lacking facilities, two boys from a far flung village of this town in northern Kashmir’s Kupwara district have qualified the prestigious JEE Mains exam.
Muhammad Ayoub Bhat and Firdous Ahmad Mir from Sarmarg Check-Sarmarg have become an inspiration not only for the young student from their native village but entire town.
Firdous who qualified class 12 exams last year from Boys Higher Secondary School Handwara, with 86% mark qualified the JEE Mains in first attempt with 90.53% marks.
His father Farooq Ahmad Mir who runs a shop in Handwara described his son as hardworking. Mir is optimistic his son would achieve his goal.
“I am proud of my son who after all odds, from lockdown to internet shutdown, qualified the exam,” Mir said.
Firdous who has been a bright student since his school days said he started preparing for the exams from class 9.
“The lockdown did tell upon my preparation and I could not complete whole syllabus,” he said.
Bhat who had passed class 10 with 67 percent marks and class 12 exams with 75% marks qualified JEE Mains with 93.79%.
According to him, the marks secured in exams in no way tell about capability of a student. “I proved them wrong who think that a student having less marks in class 10 and 12 can’t qualify such prestigious exams,” said Bhat.
Bhat’s father, Abdul Majeed who is a fruit grower expressed joy over his son bringing laurels to Kashmir.
“I had suggested him to pursue higher studies after he did not qualify the exam in few attempts. But my son followed his dream and the result is in front of us,” said Majeed.