Ludhiana, July 25 -- In a first for the Senior Secondary Residential School for Meritorious Students, Ludhiana, a girl from Jalalabad has secured a seat at the prestigious Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali. But behind this academic triumph lies a story of grit and an uphill financial struggle that has now forced her to seek an education loan of nearly Rs.8 lakh.

Simran, 18, a student of the 2023-24 batch from the Meritorious School, Ludhiana, has secured admission in the five-year BS-MS dual degree programme at IISER after achieving an impressive rank of 452 in the General-EWS category. She also cracked the JEE Advanced with an All-India Rank of 5,000. According to her, the academic high is overshadowed b...