Bihar daily wager’s son bags ₹2.5 crore fellowship to study in US

Prem Kumar, a 17-year-old youth from Bihar, has not only made his parents proud, but has brought glory to his state and the Mahadalit community by bagging the prestigious Dyer Fellowship worth ₹2.5 crore to pursue an engineering degree in the US.

Son of a daily wager, Prem, a native of Gonpura village in Phulwarisharif, is the first-generation-college-goer in his family.

He is one of the six students across the world to have been awarded the Dyer Fellowship by Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, where he will pursue a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and International Relations.

Quick spread of fame

Prem, currently pursuing his Class 12 at the Shoshit Samadhan Kendra, earned the scholarship with the help of the Dexterity Global Group, which helps students from underprivileged backgrounds.

His ‘rags to riches’ story spread like wildfire after Dexterity Group’s founder Sharad Vivek Sagar shared the news on Twitter. Sagar claimed that Prem was probably the first Mahadalit in India to have landed the opportunity.

The term Mahadalit is used to describe the poorest of community within the Dalits in Bihar and account for almost 10 per cent of the state’s population. Most of the people from the community do not own land, but work as sharecroppers on the farms of other influential and upper caste communities, especially the Yadavs.

“Prem is a #DexterityToCollege fellow from Gonpura village in Bihar His father is a daily wage earner. Prem has been selected to study at the prestigious Lafayette College in US on a ₹2.5 crore scholarship. He is likely the first Mahadalit student in India to achieve this feat,” Sagar said in his congratulatory tweet, posting a photo of Prem with him.

 In a recent interview with a media outlet on his remarkable feat, 17-year-old Prem called him an “incredible” experience given that his parents never went to school. He also thanked Dexterity Global for helping Mahadalit students like him for reaching the peaks of success.