Mangala Muduli from the Bonda tribe in Odisha has become the first member from his community to study medicine. The 19-year-old boy has got admission at MKCG Medical College in Berhampur after qualifying the difficult National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) exam. He secured 348 marks and got a rank of 261 among tribal reserved seats. The achievement is significant as the literacy rate among Bondas has been the lowest among all the 62 tribes of Odisha. As per the 2011 census, the literacy rate of this tribe was recorded at 36.61 per cent. Mr Muduli overcame the challenges of the isolated community and cracked the prestigious medical entrance exam despite all the hardships.
Mangala Muduli, a talented student from the Bonda tribe, has achieved an impressive milestone by securing a place in the prestigious MKCG Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur, through NEET 2024. Muduli, who completed his schooling at Mudulipada SSD High School and pursued his… pic.twitter.com/oLhaL1Rotz
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As per a report published in The Hindu, the young medical aspirant mentioned that he along with his three siblings are the first generation learner from their family. His family relies on food from forest and other minor forest produces. Despite being a diligent and hardworking student, he was not expecting to crack the exam and secure a seat in a medical college as nobody in his family has ever pursued higher education. He also noted that some of his family members have moved to the cities for work, but nobody has ever entered the medical education.
For his initial school education at the Government-run Mudulipada Residential School, Mr Muduli would trek five-kilometer distance between school and his village. He scored 50 per cent marks in his Class 10 exam. Unlike the usual norms of his village when most students drop out of school after Class 10, Mr Muduli moved 25 km away from his village to take admission in Class 11 at SSD Senior Secondary School in Govindapalli. Along with his school education, he also simultaneously enrolled in a coaching centre to prepare for the medical entrance exam.
Recognising his true potential, Utkal Keshari Das, Mr Muduli's Science teacher helped him to secure admission in a coaching centre in Balasore, where he studied for the medical entrance exam by cycling 8 km everyday.
Mr Muduli always aspired to become a doctor as he had experienced the hardships faced by his community in accessing health facilities. People from his community are mostly deprived of even primary health care services and usually resort to local methods of curing.
