Srinagar's RISE students shine in engineering entrance

NEW DELHI: Srinagar’s RISE Institute, which coaches students for engineering entrance examinations on the lines of Anand Kumar’s ‘Super 30’ programme in Patna, has seen more than a 100% jump in the number of students qualifying for National Institutes of Technology over last year.

This year, 41of its students qualified the Joint Entrance Examination Main compared to 20 last year. One student, Yawar Altaf from Srinagar, qualified JEE Advanced and was also shortlisted for interview for admission to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Last year, four students qualified for JEE Advanced.

The institute coached 110 students this year, 40 of them for free and the rest for a nominal fee. For the first time, the institute coached two students for admission to the US universities. “One student got admission to the University of Washington and Princeton University, and another got qualified to the interview round of MIT,” said RISE co-founder Imbesat Ahmad, who founded the institute along with fellow IIT alumni Mubeen Masudi and Salman Shahid.

Students said the frequent blocking of internet access in the Valley owing to the ongoing unrest is a major hurdle. “Not only does the constant turmoil result in missed classes and lectures but the frequent banning of internet forces one to subsist on minimal content available in textbooks,” said Yawar Altaf.