IAS officer launches crowdfunding to get remote district toppers admitted to Delhi univ

From financial worries to a ray of hope, the journey to chase a dream has never been an easy task. Luckily Leecha Haisa, Longsam Sapang, and Sengthung Yanchang – district toppers from one of the most remote districts of Arunachal Pradesh – are all set to get help from a crowdfunding initiative on Twitter to turn their dreams into reality by pursuing graduation from Delhi University.

And the brain behind the initiative is that of the deputy commissioner of Changlang district, Devansh Yadav.

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Yadav tweeted, “It takes 2 mins to help these students realize their dream of studying in #DelhiUniversity

All 3 are district toppers & not from financially sound background. Your contribution can help them purse Undergrad in #DU“

Through the initiative, a pool of a little over Rs 1 lakh has already been collected. This money will be used to fund these meritorious students’ educational and other expenses in Delhi for the first three years.

Sharing the idea behind his initiative, Yadav said, “There are several students who have merit in them, but coming from a weak financial background, their parents and cannot afford a child’s education. Hence, I thought of reaching out to those who can afford and want to help such meritorious students realize their dreams but don’t know how and whom to help.”

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It all started in June this year with the declaration of the Arunachal Pradesh Civil Service (APCS) examination results. “I observed that despite 10 per cent of the total population of Arunachal Pradesh comes from the three districts of Changlang, Tirap, and Longding, the students who made in APCS from these districts are hardly 2 per cent. Soon, the reason became apparent. The districts backwardness was one of the hurdles,” added Yadav

“I could recollect the story of an Indian Forest Service (IFS) from Arunachal Pradesh who could pursue his higher education in Delhi due to the efforts of a deputy commissioner way back in 2004. Today, the officer is serving the land of Arunachal Pradesh, and his story is from where I drew my inspiration,” Yadav said, adding, “I contacted a post-graduate student from Arunachal Pradesh in Delhi seeking her help to identify needy meritorious students who wish to study in Delhi but dropping the idea due to financial constraints.”

Yadav said, six names came up out of which few were so vulnerable that their parents could not even afford their transportation. We have selected three students to help them pursue higher education in Delhi with the help of this initiative. “Their lodging arrangement has been made in hostel free of cost while their educational and other expenses will be met through the crowdfunding initiative.”

All three students have made it to the third cut-off list with two students having chosen college while the third one in process of selecting the college.

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The district administration of Changlang has opened a virtual account on Razorpay and anyone who wants to help meritorious students is just a click away from donating money for a novel cause. “So far we have received around Rs 1 lakh and we shall try to accommodate more needy students on the basis of the funds collected through this initiative,” he added.

Yadav said the initiative will also instill hope and motivation among other students, particularly from not sound financial background ones, to focus on study.