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‘Unwanted' girl child, she has outshone everyone in family
Before Manvi (name changed) was born, relatives advised her parents to abort the girl child, their third daughter. "One more?" her father was told, once the family based in Rohtak's Hassangarh had coerced them into illegally getting a gender determination test done.
The couple ignored the lot. After Manvi was born, they ensured she went to school. She was a bright student. Her marks and teachers' appreciation filled them with pride. "Manvi wanted to study science after Class 10. Govt schools in our village did not offer that. So, I started looking for options so that she could continue studying," her father told TOI. That was in 2018.
The same year, Haryana launched Super 100, the state's special teaching programme in collaboration with Vilap Foundation to prepare children from economically weaker sections for competitive exams like IIT-JEE.
Manvi aced the entrance exam and shifted to the centre in Kurukshetra for the residential programme. In 2020, she cracked JEE Advanced and got a seat in the computer science course at IIT Gandhinagar. Now 24, she works as a financial analyst for a Jaipur-based firm and takes home an annual package of Rs 12 lakh, outshining everyone else in her family.
"I wanted to work in tech since I was in Class VI. Back then, it was a vague dream.
It wasn't until I reached Class XI and enrolled in Super100 that I realised the journey would be difficult. Since I studied in a village, I had to go back to the basics to catch up. I had to also balance studying for IIT entrance exams and my regular schoolwork," Manvi said.
Govt school students who clear Class 10 are eligible for Super 100. If selected, the students complete their schooling till Class 12 in Kurukshetra alongside their entrance exam training.
Naveen Kumar Mishra, an IIT-Delhi graduate who teaches at the Kurukshetra centre, said Manvi was a resolute kid. "To the extent that she wouldn't line up in the canteen's queue to take more rotis after the first serving because she didn't want to waste time not studying," he said.
One day, he recalled, some students told the staff snacks they had brought from home were missing. "It didn't take long for us to realise that Manvi might have been having them because she remained hungry.
Eventually, we started keeping extra snacks for her. No student should have to choose between hunger and education," Mishra said.
For many other govt school students, competitive exams in English is another challenge. Many of them have only studied in Hindi-medium schools. Lack of language skills and confidence was among reasons that the education department launched Super 100 to give govt school students an equal chance to compete with their counterparts from private schools or from families that are better off.
In the years since, approximately 1,900 students have been enrolled in the programme, of which 252 have made it to IITs and 244 have cleared the medical entrance test NEET. Many of these success stories are of students from villages in Hisar, Jind, Kaithal and Bhiwani.
Kajal, another groomed at Super 100, achieved what she hadn't even dreamt of. The 22-year-old said her father runs a shop in Fatehabad's Inda Chohi village and her hope was to get a "decent job" to "make her parents proud".
She was 15 when she joined Super 100's first batch of students in 2018. Kajal went on to study BTech (computer science) from IIT Bombay and landed a job with tech giant Microsoft.
"Now, I dream of becoming an IAS officer. I never thought I would have such a vision, but this journey has made me realise the power of dreaming big," she said.
Like Manvi and Kajal, 22-year-old Kamal Sharma of Faridabad had humble beginnings. Growing up, he shared a single room with his parents and two brothers.
His father, an electrician, always put his family first.
"I've seen my father wear the same clothes, day in and day out. He never bought new clothes for himself and worked tirelessly. That's the kind of selflessness that I grew up seeing. His sacrifices made me realise that nothing is impossible if you are willing to work for it, no matter how tough life gets," Kamal said.
Now employed with a private firm as a software developer in Gurgaon, the youngster said he was always trying to find pockets of time to study – in free periods at school, even during PT classes.
Kamal's elder brother, in 2019, was the first in the family to get a job at a monthly salary of Rs 30,000. "That was a milestone for our family. Now, my job, with a package of Rs 20 LPA, has transformed our family," he said.
A Super 100 spokesperson said a typical day at the centre includes not just classes, but yoga and assemblies, where the staff recites inspirational stories for motivation, fixed periods for peer-learning (similar to study groups) and self-study.
"To implement and sustain this, the programme is supported by over 25 academic staff and 60 non-academic staff, who play vital roles in teaching, mentoring, monitoring, hostel management, and overall logistics," the spokesperson said.
Though the programme was originally meant to pick a batch of 100, enrolments have expanded. This year, 46,000 students applied for entrance exams to Super 100, of which 401 were chosen. The 2025-27 session began on May 25. "The Haryana Super 100 programme is not just about competition but also support and collective growth. Students help each other solve problems. One of the most memorable incidents was in the first six months when these students had to study while sitting on the floor due to lack of furniture.
When benches arrived, their joy was akin to a child receiving a prized toy," said Saket, who teaches at the Kurukshetra centre.
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