Andhra Minister Nara Lokesh responds to WhatsApp message, helps students register

Hyderabad :

Andhra Pradesh Minister Nara Lokesh on Monday met 25 differently-abled students, whom he helped by issuing a government order (GO) recently, which enabled them to get admission in prestigious engineering colleges across the country.

In response to a WhatsApp message from one of the students – Maruthi Prithvi Satyadev who got admission to IIT Madras – the HRD Minister directed officials to issue a government order (GO) that awarded disabled students a grade of marks with a fifth subject in their intermediate examination results by taking the marks of the four subjects in which they took the exams.

“As per the norms of the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE), students with disabilities are exempted from studying and appearing for one of the two languages. Due to this exemption, Satyadev did not appear for his second language exam and got an A grade,” an official working with the minister told NDTV.

For students with special abilities, the mark memo displays five subjects but the fifth subject is highlighted as exempted, but IIT-Madras requires mark memo for five subjects with marks awarded for all.

So, Maruthi Prithvi Satyadev contacted the minister via WhatsApp on June 22.

Stanford graduate Nara Lokesh responded to the student’s message within a half-hour and followed up with a meeting with the student and his father.

The student told the minister that the IIT Chennai authorities had asked him to obtain a government order (GO) from the Andhra Pradesh government. The minister intervened and asked the authorities concerned to issue the certificate with immediate effect. He also asked the officials to hold talks with the IIT Chennai officials. After the order was issued, Satyadev’s admission to the IIT was confirmed.

“I got a seat in IIT Madras and due to a technical glitch regarding my mid-term marks memo, my seat was cancelled. I immediately sent an SMS to our honourable minister Sir Nara Lokesh, who responded within half an hour and issued us a government order within a week. He then called us to congratulate us and gave us laptops,” said Maruthi Prithvi Satyadev, a resident of Vijaywada.

The minister asked the officials to award marks for a fifth subject to disabled students by calculating an average of the four subjects, thereby enabling the students to meet the necessary requirements of colleges like IITs, NITs, IIITs and other premier institutions.

“I am from Tirupati and I got a seat in IIT Guwahati. I am very grateful to Minister Nara Lokesh. He responded so quickly that I did not expect this. I literally cried for three days and he responded very quickly. I am very happy,” said an elated Teesta.

“I secured 88th rank in PWD (persons with disabilities) category. After the first round, I got IIT Kanpur. We received a query regarding the fifth subject which was an exemption for PWD candidates in Andhra Pradesh. We contacted Lokesh Sir, he immediately took action regarding the issue,” said another PWD candidate from Nellore.

The 25 students met Minister Nara Lokesh at his residence in Undavalli, Amaravati to express their gratitude.

“It is a very proud day for the state of Andhra Pradesh. It just shows that if the government is responsive, we can solve many problems. This is what we call a responsive government,” Nara Lokesh said.

The Minister wished them good luck and asked them to contact him directly for any needs.

“As a Minister, it is my duty to serve our people. The NDA government led by Hon’ble CM @ncbn Garu aims to make education accessible to all. I strongly believe that there is no disability, only different abilities. Everyone is equal and everyone deserves equal opportunities. I am happy to have helped these bright youngsters secure their IIT seats. I wish them all the best,” the Minister later posted on X.

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