JNU security guard cracks entrance exam, is to study Russian in the varsity

New Delhi: At a time when cracking the JNU entrance examination is a distant dream for many, this person serving as a security guard in the university since 2014 has proved it that cracking the university entrance is not that difficult as well. He is Ramjal Meena, better known as a security guard in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

For Meena, fame and name came in an overnight when the results of the JNU entrance examination for admission into BA Russian (Hons) were declared. The Rajasthan man, 34-year-old Meena was a first-generation learner from Karauli and while appearing for the entrance examination in JNU, perhaps did not have the slightest hint that he would actually be studying in the university where he is working as a security guard.

Meena said, “What makes JNU different is that people here do not believe in the social hierarchy. Everyone — teachers and students — encouraged me; now they congratulate me. I feel like I have become famous overnight.”

Being the son of a daily wager, Meena had gone to a government school in his village Bhajera. But, he later had to discontinue his education due to the vast distance between his home and the educational institutes. He said that for higher education in a college, he would have to travel 28-30 km from his home which was not possible for him while also working to help his father too.

Never did he know that he would one day be studying in one of the leading universities of the nation. The craze and urge for education was never given up by him for whom he completed taking a graduation degree Political Science, History and Hindi through distance learning from Rajasthan University.

Speaking about the milestone achieved by Meena, JNU Vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar said, “We have always encouraged students from diverse backgrounds. We nurture them by providing them critical thinking ability.”

Meena also has a wife and three daughters with whom he lives in a one-room-set in Munirka. Coming from such a busy schedule and a family atmosphere where he hardly gets a scope to make preparation for the examination, cracking the reentrance examination is itself is a feat for the security guard. In order to prepare for the exams, Meena had chosen to study between and after his duty hours.

He added, “Though I got really busy addressing my family’s financial issues, the regret of not joining a regular college was always there. But when I saw the academic environment here, the dream was revived.”

Also read: Northeastern students to have a new hostel at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi