Scaling new heights: 10 Maha tribal students to start their Everest trek tomorrow

Come tomorrow and ten tribal students from Maharashtra will embark on a challenging journey to scale the world's highest peak -- Mount Everest.

The students, who are in the age group of 17-21 years, are all packed to leave for Kathmandu and start the expedition to live their mountainous dream.

These students belong to different ashram schools (residential schools for tribal children) in Chandrapur district in Vidarbha region and the expedition is a part of "Mission Shaurya" undertaken by the Tribal Development Ministry of Maharashtra, an official statement said.

The exercise is being carried out by the Integrated Tribal Welfare Project and the Chandrapur district administration.

The ten students, identified as Manisha Dhurve, Pramesh Aale, Umakant Madvi, Akash Madvi, Akash Atram, Shubham Pendor, Kavidas Katmode, Vikas Soyam, Indu Kannake and Chayya Atram, come from ashram schools in Borda, Devda and Jeevti -- all remote tribal blocks in Chandrapur.

The preparation for the project began in July 2017 with preliminary screening of 60 students from the ashram schools. Of them, 45 students were sent to Wardha for the foundation training, the statement said.

"After various tests, 25 students were selected and sent to Bhongir, Hyderabad for primary rock climbing course. After the five-day course, 18 of the students were sent for further basic mountaineering course at Darjeeling in November 2017.

"Thereafter, of the 18 shortlisted students, 13 were selected for the 12-day winter mountaineering course at Leh, Ladakh in January this year, where they were given training in acclimatising with the climate at Mount Everest. Of them, 10 were finally selected for expedition," the statement added.

During the expedition, the students will be accompanied by a support staff, a manager, 15 sherpas and one expert doctor, it said.

Praising the students, the state's Tribal Development Minister Vishnu Savara said that tribals have inborn determination, persistence, strength and that generations after generations have carried themselves forward in adverse conditions.