How a reluctant Bikash was helped to develop self-confidence

Berhampur: Teaching Bikash Sahu of Ganjam district, who has hogged the limelight from selling snacks to becoming a medical student, was a tough task. Bikash had fled away from Aryabhatta Learning Forum in Berhampur, a coaching centre for NEET and JEE, to his village after three days of his admission and was reluctant to come back despite repeated requests, said its Director Sudhir Rout.

“We requested ‘Bipadara Bandhu’, an organisation helping the poor and socially oppressed who brought Bikash to us and approached us for free coaching, to at least bring back Bikash for counselling. They did it after much difficulty,” he said.

Bikash was mentally upset from the beginning. He lost his self-confidence as most of his classmates at the coaching centre were comparatively fluent in English and Hindi. Bikash was not so familiar with these two languages.

“Teaching Bikash was a great challenge for us to help him overcome his inferiority complex and develop self-confidence,” said Rout. Aryabhatta Learning Forum had to adopt a series of cohesive measures to make Bikash successful. Bikash finally settled down after four months of coaching.

“As Bikash has the problem of low vision, he was unable to see the blackboard. When we noticed it, we arranged his seat in the front row. The teachers were asked to restrict their movements in the classroom to facilitate Bikash. Thus, Bikash was able to note down the lessons,” added Rout.

Bikash was complaining that he was unable to understand anything in the classroom as most of the teachers were teaching in English or Hindi. All the teachers were requested to teach Bikash with utmost care and slowly in the classroom. Teachers often asked Bikash whether he understood the lessons. He was asked to meet the teachers outside the classroom to clear doubts.

“We were regularly in touch with Bikash at RK Hostel here where he was residing while studying in Plus Two Science in Khallikote Higher Secondary School to enquire about his food and well-being just to create a sense of togetherness,” said Rout.

Thus, ‘Bipadara Bandhu’ extended a helping hand and Aryabhatta Learning Forum moulded Bikash to fulfil his dream to become a doctor.