Tribal student from Melghat wins Rs 55 lakh scholarship to study at University of Bristol
Amaravati: Kishor Lakhaji Bethekar, a tribal student from Maharashtra’s Melghat region, has secured admission to a one-year MSc in Education at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom with a Rs 55 lakh scholarship from the Maharashtra government.
Kishor hails from Chilati, a hamlet of about 400 people in Amaravati district on the Maharashtra–Madhya Pradesh border. The area is known for severe malnutrition and limited access to basic services. His father Lakhaji owns three acres of non-irrigated land, which is not enough to support the family. Like many in the village, they worked on other farms and migrated for labour. Despite the hardship, Lakhaji remained determined to educate his son.
Kishor is the first student from the Korku tribal community to receive the scholarship and gain admission to a UK university. News of his achievement has sparked celebrations across Chilati, and his story is being shared across Melghat as a source of inspiration.
Reflecting on his journey, Kishor quoted a proverb popularised by Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe: “Do not see where I reached, but see where I came.” He described life in Melghat as defined by survival, citing malnutrition, poor schooling, inadequate healthcare, erratic electricity, and broken roads. “Even for basic education and health services, we walk several kilometres,” he said.
