As Walt Disney once said, if we can dream it, we can do it. One such deeply inspirational tale is that of Sabir Alam, a young scientist from ISRO, belonging to a modest family hailing from Barsoi, a small village located in the Katihar district of Bihar.
Overcoming Hurdles
Although Sabir tended a deep-seated passion for science since his childhood, he also remained mindfully cognizant of his humble family background, “With our limited means of earning, arranging for quality education that could help me move towards my dreams was very difficult for my father”.
Eager not to be deterred by such challenges, Sabir decided to appear for the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) entrance exams that offers residential quality education for free to bright students in each district.
Upon securing admission to JNV, Sabir got to know about the IIT – JEE Coaching at Avanti in association with Tata Motors that grooms young minds to crack competitive examination like IIT – JEE though a unique peer to peer learning approach. For the succeeding months, Sabir dedicated himself to this coaching programme along with 17 of his other classmates.
He recounts, “Since our programme encouraged peer-to-peer learning, our classes were seldom boring. There was a free flow of ideas within the entire class, we often shared clever tricks that could be useful in solving problems with speed and accuracy.”
The stairway of success
With assistance from teachers in a holistic learning environment, Sabir went on to gain admission in IIT Madras. He persevered to excel in the rigorous and extensive course offered in the prestigious institution for the next four years.
Sabir fondly remembers the love of his peers and the continuous support of his mentors, which played an instrumental role in bringing him where he is today. He graduated with a B.Tech in Aerospace Engineering with flying colors.
Today, Sabir works as a scientist at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Trivandrum. “I am very grateful that my dedication towards my dream has actually helped me turn it into reality”, said Sabir, commenting on his incredible journey, and hoping to inspire other youth from his village.
Aiming to nurture the dreams of many more such bright underprivileged students, the courses provided in JNV in partnership with Tata Motors and Avanti are directed to foster hope and courage in them, inspiring them to work hard. The story of Sabir Alam is one of many that reaffirms faith in the value of determination in making the impossible possible.
With a firm belief that quality education is the cornerstone of nation-building, Tata Motors and Avanti are continuously striving to design and invest in programmes for better learning of the underprivileged by introducing advanced technology in academics to cater to the evolving times.
The objective of this association is to accelerate the career aspirations of talented young individuals with limited resources, who will further contribute to moving the nation forward.
