Srinagar, Jun 15 (KNS): On Friday, 14th June, Huzaib, like lacs of students from across the country, was anxiously waiting for JEE Advanced results. He has been preparing for JEE since 2016. On Friday morning IIT’s website crashed. “The whole day felt like years, I have never felt time move so slow in my entire life”, says Huzaib. The results were eventually declared at 4 pm and Huzaib was thrilled to learn that he qualified the exam with a rank good enough to ensure an admission one of the prestigious IITs of the country.

Since 2015, the selection of Kashmiris to IITs has seen an upward trend. 10 years ago one if not two Kashmiris would qualify for IITs every year. Since 2015 at least 5-6 students qualify for IIT from Kashmir. The primary reason for this trend has been RISE, an educational institute affiliated with the ASCENT GROUP, which specialises in training students for JEE and other college admission examinations. Huzaib is one of the 10 students from RISE who qualified the JEE advanced exam this year. Last year RISE was in the news when its students Adeeba and Moin secured admissions to University of Pennsylvania and the Princeton University respectively.

Around approximately 10 lac students sit for JEE Mains. Of these 10 lac students, approximately 2 lac are qualified to appear in JEE Advanced. JEE mains is conducted in the month of April and JEE Advanced is conducted in the month of May every year. The closest centre of JEE Advanced for Kashmir is in Jammu city. Students from all over the country start preparing for JEE advanced right after class 10th in some case even as early as class 7th. Its considered as one of the toughest and most competitive examinations of the world.

Huzaib secured a rank of 5184. Mumin and Faisal secured ranks of 8172 and 8892 respectively. Said secured a category rank of 14.

Salman Shahid, of team RISE, said, “We were expecting greater number of selection than last year and are satisfied with achieving that target. There is still a lot that needs to be improved with regard to students’ and parents’ attitude towards competitive examinations. We only expect these numbers to grow in future. If students perform per their potential we expect 40-50 selections in IITs from Kashmir every year. We realise it will take us many years to reach that number, but this years results are a step in that direction.” (KNS)