Army Chief General Rawat meets 'Super 40' Kashmiri students

Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Tuesday met Kashmiri students of Super 40 programme who cleared their Joint Entrance Examination - Advanced (JEE - Advanced) this year.

Super 40 Programme, known as Super 30 in 2013-14, started with the aim of coaching 30 students from Kashmir preparing for IIT main exams. In 2016, the number rose to 40.

JEE - Advanced, formerly the Indian Institutes of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE), is an annual engineering college entrance examination in India. It is used as the sole admission test by the 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

General Rawat congratulated the students, who cleared the exam, and hoped the students would serve Kashmir.

"Few amongst you will become the District Magistrates and SDMs. And you will be able to help the other children," he told students.

One of the students of programme, Nikhat said that the coaching helped her to achieve her dream of pursuing engineering.

"I am planning to do engineering. I was in the coaching programme. The faculty was good in Delhi and it helped us to prepare for the exams," she said.

Major General R.P. Kalitha, under whose supervision this initiative is being conducted, lauded the Kashmiri students for their exemplary handwork and dedication towards their studies.

"The Youth of Kashmir are very intelligent and hard working, and with the facilities that were provided, gradually the results also improved from 2013. This year in the main exams, 26 boys and two girls cleared and in the Advanced phase, nine boys cleared the exam.

I think it is a great result since the institute is only three-year- old," he said.

General Kalitha further said that the programme was gearing up to intake 50 students, including 45 boys and five girls.

The initiative is jointly financed by the Corporate Social Responsibility Leadership and PETRONET LNG, Ministry of Petroleum.

The girls were coached at Noida and boys in Srinagar.