Agartala, June 15: Her mantra for success is simple: “Think beyond time and space”. But it surely has taken a lot more than simple philosophising for Arunima Jamatya to reach where she has from a state where 85 per cent of tribal students drop out of school. Arunima is fresh out of IIT, Kharagpur, and has two lucrative job offers on her lap. But the biggest achievement of this unassuming tribal girl — one that will perhaps not find a place on her CV — is that she has gone where no tribal student from Tripura has.
Back in this capital town for a month-long holiday, Arunima seems oblivious to the awe with which people look at her. Neither does she consider herself to be a trailblazer. However, statistics tell a different story.
The IIT alumnus is the product of an education system that has failed on many counts. Apart from an alarming school dropout rate, Tripura’s success percentage in matric and higher secondary examinations remains well below 30 per cent.
For Arunima, the seventh position on the merit lists of both the matric and higher secondary examinations was the source of inspiration to aim higher.
She entered the hallowed portals of IIT, Kharagpur, thereafter and returned with an M Tech in electronics, electrical communication engineering and computer vision.
Relaxing at the official residence of her father Amrit Sadhan Jamatya, who is the superintendent of Agartala Central jail, Arunima, 23, said her determination to do well in studies was strengthened by the academic performances of her elder siblings, brother Anupam and sister Anupama.
Arunima said she and her siblings were lucky to have a schoolteacher for a mother and a father who wanted nothing more than to see his children shine. “Our mother (Taru) kept egging us on, while our father did everything he could for us. One reason why our father has yet to build a house in Agartala is the huge expenditure he incurred in giving us a proper education.”
Jamatya himself had to struggle throughout his life, hailing from the remote and backward Nagrai village of South Tripura.
On whether tribal youths could turn the tide on the strength of determination alone, Arunima said success was a combination of many factors. She personally did not face any problem or discrimination as a tribal girl studying in educational institutions where the majority of students were non-tribals. “I never faced any such problem and, to my mind, there isn’t any. We, the younger generation, think differently than people older than us.”
And her advice to students aspiring to scale the heights of excellence? “Be competitive and self-reliant, and always avoid being spoon-fed.”