For many Indian teenagers who want to become engineers, getting into IIT is what they dream of and work hard for. Only the brightest minds are able to score themselves a seat at the premium institute and only the most resilient ones are able to survive the four years. It is unthinkable for any student to let go of the chance to study at an IIT.
However, one student did let go of the chance to study at IIT and he is the son of a street vendor in Noida. Unimaginable right? Here’s his story.
47-year-old Balwant Singh sells towels near the Great India Place mall in Noida. He has been working as a roadside vendor for the past 28 years. He gets only 4-5 customers a day and is barely able to earn Rs 20,000 a month. His son, 18-year-old Sujal Singh, is academically brilliant and a hard worker.
“I knew my kid was capable, he used to study all day. He woke up early in the morning and studied till late at night. Whenever I would wake up at night to get water at about 2-3 am, he would still be studying. He never spent much time outside with friends also,” Balwant Singh said, quoted Indian Express.
A student of Govt. Boys’ School at Mori Gate, Sujal Singh scored 99.5 percentile in JEE Mains. In class 12, he took online classes with ‘Physics Wallah’.
Sujal got admission into the prestigious IIT Delhi in the department of Civil Engineering. However, his true passion is computer science. So he decided to let go of the IIT seat and decided to study computer science at Delhi Technological University.
“IÂ never forced a career upon my kids, I want to see them excel at what they choose,” said Balwant Singh.
However, the annual fee at Delhi Technical University is Rs 2.2 lakh. But Balwant is resilient. He will do anything he can to educate his son.
“I had to take money from relatives to get him into this college. Sujal’s uncle lent Rs 1 lakh for his education. I will manage somehow, I have to educate my kids and I will it any way I can,” he said.
It takes a lot of courage to make such a difficult decision. But since Sujal pursued his passion, we are sure that he will be tremendously successful one day!