The daughter of Alibaug tailor, IAS aspiring teenagers at Government Polytechnic

NAGPUR: Rohinee Wankhede, who comes from a village in Alibaug, faced many financial and family obstacles during the 22nd Government Polytechnic ceremony in Sadar on Thursday to emerge as a travel and tourism diplomat.

Including her, the toppers included 19-year-olds from civil engineering, Pratik Wankhede and Viditee Jaltare as well as electrical division Nikhil Ambulkuar. They all aspire to become IAS officers.

Rohinee is now focusing on part-time work to finance her higher studies. Her father moved to Akola to look after her mum while her mother and two siblings are staying in Alibaug. “My mother was working part-time to cover the expenses for my Nagpur studies,” she said.
Such students were among the twenty-one toppers from twelve divisions, while at the university, 711 diplomas were awarded in all. Beside 28 funded honors, they won gold, silver, and bronze medals.

Rohinee was doing her HSC in commerce and wanted to make a financial sector career. “But I decided to take the new diploma course to begin early work in support of the financial needs of my family,” she said. Her elder sister pursues fashion design while her younger brother is a student in engineering at Penn.

Her father had moved to Akola in 2010, and worked there. She began working as front office executive at a resort in Tadoba after her final exams. Now, she has moved to Nagpur and worked under a chartered accountant. Pratik, Viditee and Nikhil have enrolled for degrees in BTech and BE though their ultimate goal is to clear up civil service.

“I want to provide accommodation for all of India’s poor people, and free education. Our literacy rates are too low,” said Pratik, who was top in all disciplines. His classmate and second overall topper Viditee said she wishes to serve the nation and disseminate knowledge as an IAS official.

Topper among all girls, her limited access to technology as a kid was the reason Monica Dholwani opted for computer science engineering. “We lived in a family together and had one computer. I’ve always wanted to know more about it, and developed gadget liking,” she said. Monica now wants to go for innovation and propagate technology utilization in the country’s rural areas. “I want to take the villages with technology-enabled services,” she said.