The dakshana foundation for IIT-JEE

Updated on: Thursday, May 28, 2009

Pune: The Dakshana Foundation is pleased to announce that its first batch of JNV Dakshana Scholars came through with flying colors and did exceeding well in the IIT-JEE 2009.

A total of 350 Dakshana Scholars were prepped by Dakshana for 1-2 years. Of these 70 qualified in the IIT-JEE merit list. In addition, 154 scholars made it to the Extended Merit List of the IIT-JEE, which makes them eligible to join some of India’s most elite science and technology institutes. The coaching was provided free of cost to all scholars. In addition, Dakshana provided boarding and lodging for 67 scholars at Faridabad (Haryana) for a year – also at no charge. The program is designed to permanently lift impoverished families from poverty by sending their best and brightest children to the IITs, NITs etc.

Less than 4 per cent of the nearly 400,000 students made it to IIT or the Extended Merit List this year. Dakshana had a hit rate of 64 per cent - with 224 of the 350 scholars being selected. “It is all the more remarkable because we are brand new at all this. I am grateful to the JNV system, Dakshana’s staff, volunteers and IIT-JEE coaching service provider partners for these incredible results. We had many shortcomings and we hope to do even better in the years ahead,” said Mohnish Pabrai, Dakshana’s founder.

Dakshana is a charitable foundation that began operations in India in 2007. The foundation has a strong relationship and Memorandum of Understanding with the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya system (JNVs) whereby Dakshana screens and selects the most promising JNV students for intensive preparation and coaching for the IIT-JEE. The 500+ JNVs nationwide graduate over 25,000 students every year. Historically, only a small handful of have made it to IIT. The Dakshana-JNV partnership is all about creating a level playing field where brilliant students from rural, impoverished families can reach their full potential.

Of the 70 Scholars who qualified, the top rank holder is Sumit Malik from JNV Kaloi (Jhajjar, Haryana). Sumit got a rank of 1033 on the IIT-JEE. His father is an impoverished laborer. A list of Dakshana Scholars who qualified in the IIT-JEE by region is posted on www.dakshana.org shortly.

Dakshana was founded (and fully funded) by Mohnish Pabrai and his spouse, Harina Kapoor. Mohnish and Harina believe in recycling most of their estate back to society. Dakshana is focused on providing world-class education opportunities for exceptionally gifted children from impoverished rural backgrounds in India. Every Dakshana Scholar who gets a world-class education successfully breaks the shackles of poverty for his entire family - permanently.

Educationtimes

The dakshana foundation for IIT-JEE

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