Bihar’s tiny IIT hub that outshines cities in producing engineers

Patwa Toli village in Bihar, renowned for producing the highest number of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) graduates and engineers since 1995, is celebrating another milestone this year as 40 of its students cleared the JEE (Main) examination, the results of which were announced on April 19.

The village, also known as the “Manchester of Bihar” due to its settlement of weavers, has a remarkable academic legacy that began in 1991 when Jitendra Kumar became the first from the village to crack the IIT entrance exam. His success inspired generations of students to aspire for the prestigious institute.

Among the 40 students who cleared JEE (Main) this year, 28 were trained at the NGO “Vriksha: Be the Change”, founded by Chandrakant Pateshwar, a 32-year-old alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kozhikode.

Talking to The Tribune, Pateshwar said, “Jitendra bhaiya joined IIT-Banaras Hindu University in 1991 and later secured a job in the US. His achievements motivated the village youth, who saw IIT as a pathway to global opportunities and prestigious careers. The trend continued and by 2002, the village had produced 25 IITians and 75 engineers.”

“But many families in Patwa Toli struggle financially, as most villagers work in handloom units weaving ‘gamcha’ or in small-scale industries. We established ‘Vriksha’ in 2013 to provide free coaching to underprivileged students,” he said.Vriksha is being run from Pateshwar’s residence.

“Due to constant noise from handlooms here, students could not study. We thus started a library to impart education in physics, chemistry and mathematics. Today, we have an engineer in each house. Now, students even from Patna come to our village to prepare for the entrance exam,” Pateshwar said.

One of this year’s successful candidates, Sagar Kumar, scored 94.8 percentile in JEE (Main). Having lost his father at birth, Sagar found support through “Vriksha” and now dreams of becoming as an engineer. Another aspirant, Pratik, son of a gatekeeper, scored 96.35 percentile and moved to Patwa Toli to prepare for the exam.

India