Never been to school, 14-yr-old cracks IIT...

Fourteen-year-old Shivanand Tiwari has never been to school, but is on his way to joining one of the IITs. The prodigy from Rohtas district’s Dharampura village has secured the 2,587th rank in IIT-JEE (Advanced) 2014.

“Till 2010, I didn’t have much inclination towards studies, except for solving mathematical problems,” said Shivanand.

“But then somebody suggested I aim for IITs and I got help from the Narayana Academy in Delhi.” Shivanand’s father Kamlakant Tiwari, a farmer who is a history honours graduate, wanted him to become a sage and even started calling him ‘bal sant’ (child saint). “Since childhood I liked spirituality and learnt the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita and a number of puranas to recite at different functions,” he said. “However, when my father saw I liked studying maths and science, he also agreed to my higher studies.” He first wants to study applied physics from IIT Kanpur and later do research in physics. 

“I’m really interested in correlating spirituality and science,” says Shivanand. He scored 93.4% in his CBSE Class 12 exams this year, but was hoping for better grades in both the Class 12 and JEE. “I’ll take another attempt at JEE next year to improve my rank,” he said. He advises other IIT aspirants to first have clear concepts and then take as many practice tests as possible to crack the exam.

Source : Times Of India - Chennai Edition