Over 500 Students of West Bengal’s Al-Ameen Mission Succeed in NEET

by Abbas Adil

In West Bengal, a total of 510 students mentored by Al-Ameen Mission have cracked this year’s NEET or National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test. The most remarkable thing about this result is that more than half of the successful candidates are from families living under below poverty line or lower income group. Another remarkable fact is that most of them come from rural Bengal. Parents of some of them are masonry, daily wage-earners or engaged in menial jobs and living in shanties.

Al-Ameen, the Howrah-based charitable organisation, has published a list of 340 candidates with their photos and ranks and scores. According to its founder general secretary Nurul Islam, all of them are sure to get admission in colleges offering MBBS programme. Rest of the successful candidates will get admission in colleges offering dental, veterinary, ayurvedic or homeopathic programmes.

Reacting to the success, Nurul Islam expressed satisfaction and said like previous year, this year too more than 500 students are getting chance to study Medicine. “We are assessing the data. Maybe, the numbers would go slightly up from last year.”

“Top ranking students will get admission in major national colleges. But majority of our candidates prefer to remain in West Bengal as medical education in the state is almost free. They are required to pay only hostel fee which comes to around Rs. 4,000 per month,” Nurul Islam told Clarion India over the phone from his office in Kolkata.

He said majority of the candidates get scholarship of the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs. West Bengal Minority Finance Corporation processes their applications. They get up to Rs. 2,500 per month. That means, they are required to manage only Rs. 1,500 per month. Those who can’t afford even this much are provided assistance from Al-Ameen.

“We give scholarship to nearly 30 per cent successful candidates in the fist year of their college,” said Nurul Islam, adding Al-Ameen Mission has dared students from poor families with rural background to dream big and become doctors and engineers.

Al-Ameen is essentially a residential institution. Those selected are required to stay in one of the 63 campuses that it runs throughout West Bengal. They are taken care of by everything: from education to food to accommodation. A strict discipline is followed by everyone alike from students to teachers to general staff.

Success through online classes

Because of Covid-induced lockdown, classes at the campuses had to be suspended forcing teachers to go online. For last batch nine months were online and three offline. “We maintained our daily classes and held regular tests throughout even in online mode,” said Nurul Islam.

Students were provided with tabs for online classes. Those extremely poor were provided free of cost, some on half price while others had to pay, according to Nurul Islam.

This year, nearly 1,800 students of Al-Ameen appeared for NEET. That means 30 per cent of them have managed to get through. Touhid Murshid is ranked 470 (AIR). “If we consider the OBC category, his ranking is 105. He is from Pardeonapur village under Baishnabnagar police station of Malda district. His father is a teacher at a Madrasa and his mother a health worker. He had scored 90% marks in both Madhyamik and Higher Secondary examinations from Al-Ameen Mission. His elder brother is also an alumnus of the Mission and has passed engineering this year. His sister is also studying at class XI in the Mission,” said Nurul Islam.

Moksedul Molla is ranked 662 (AIR) scoring 685 marks. He has passed higher secondary examination this year from Khalisani campus of the Mission. He lives in Tehatta, a village under Uluberia police station. His father is a businessman in the zari industry, who himself has not done even primary schooling.

Debasmita Dawn ranked 1,786 (AIR), scoring 668 marks. She took the NEET coaching from the Park Circus non-residential Coaching Centre of Al-Ameen Mission Study Circle. She is from Baranagar, North 24 Parganas.

 

Kashed Akter has ranked 1,310. He is from Domjur, Howrah. He had ranked 9 in the Madhyamik examination. His parents are graduates. His sister is suffering from cerebral Palsy. Kashed wants to become a Neuro-surgeon.

Some other successful students are: Nasib Ahmed (2,908), Samsuddin Sk (4,147), Sahin Alam (4,396), Nur Hossain Gazi (4,578), Sahid Ahmed (4,585), Abdul Hamid Sk (4,893), Soyaib Akhter Khan (5,186), Ujjwal Sk (6,215), Asif Ahmed (6,693), Enamul Hasan Khan (7,233), Sk. Jewel (15,044).

Al-Ameen has been achieving this success year after year. Last year, 516 students of Al-Ameen have cleared NEET. In 2019, its 407 students secured admission in medical colleges for MBBS and BDS education. As many as 370 students were successful in 2018; 115 in 2017; 393 in 2016; 223 in 2015; and 212 in 2014.

Al-Ameen mentors both boys and girls. Thirty per cent of its students come from families who are very poor and categorised by the government as below poverty line. Forty per cent are from lower middle-income groups. The rest belong to the middle and upper middle-income group. That means 70 per cent students enrolled here come from poor families.

Al-Ameen Mission has been spearheading this movement for over three decades to educate those who can’t afford quality education. Through its efforts it is bringing a silent revolution in the marginalised section of Muslims.

Nurul Islam says that in the 80s when he started his mission, the percentage of Muslim students in medical and engineering colleges of West Bengal was hardly two to three per cent. “But because of Al-Ameen’s efforts that percentage is today between 20 and 30 per cent,” he says.

You may also like

Leave a Comment

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.