Last year, 153 students from the tribal Madhya Pradesh had cleared the national competitive exams.
Over 300 students from economically weak families from the tribal-dominated districts of Madhya Pradesh have cleared this year's competitive exams like JEE, AIIMS, AIPMT and NEET.
"It is unbelievable but true that by pursuing studies in government schools, crossing barriers of financial crunch, 323 students of tribal dominated districts of the state have cleared JEE, AIIMS, AIPMT and NEET examinations," a Public Relation Department Official said today.
The official said that 250 girls and boys have succeeded to clear JEE examination whereas 73 students have achieved distinction to clear NEET examination in the year 2016-17.
Notably, 155 students of Mandla, Jhabua, Dhar and Chhindwara districts have achieved distinction to clear these examinations, while three belong to primitive Baiga tribe. "Three students, belonging to Baiga tribe, have successfully cracked the NEET examination," he said.
The students of Baiga tribe who cleared NEET exam are Rameshwar of Singarpur village, Yogendra Kumar Dhurve and Rashmi Dhurve of village Ghughri.
As many as 21 students belonging to Schedule Tribe community were selected for the IITs. Out of 73 students selected for NEET, 53 students belong to Schedule Tribe community. In 2015-16, 153 girls/boys students of the reserved category had cleared these examinations.
The state government has encouraged the spread of education through several initiatives in the tribal districts. Projects like Navratna and Gyanarjan in Mandla district, Akansha project in Dindori, Prayas in Anuppur and project step in Jhabua were run to promote education among such pupils, the official said.
Under the Gyanarjan project, 85 students of Mandla district were selected in the JEE and NEET examination in the last two years. One of the students was even selected by IIT Kharagpur last year.