Meet Lakshya Scholar Sharana Kumar

There was no coaching institute, no expensive study material, and no structured preparation. One of his school teachers gave him a set of NEET books because buying them was beyond the family’s means. He studied on his own from home, learning through discipline, determination and countless hours of self-study. That effort eventually earned him a merit seat at one of India’s most respected medical colleges – Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute.

Getting admission, however, was only the beginning.

His family survives on a fragile livelihood. His father is a marginal farmer whose income is unpredicable.  Years of financial hardship have also taken a personal toll, and his father’s struggle with alcohol addiction has made life even more difficult at home. His mother, despite everything, has remained the family’s quiet strength, working as a farm labourer whenever work is available while never allowing her son’s education to become another casualty of poverty.

Two years ago, floods destroyed their modest home. Since then, the family has been living in his uncle’s house because they have nowhere else to go. When Sharana Kumar secured admission to medical college, the family borrowed money from relatives to pay the initial expenses, and his mother mortgaged the only gold jewellery she owned so that her son could begin his studies.

She never spoke of sacrifice. She simply believed that her son’s future was worth every hardship. Today, whenever she introduces herself, there is one sentence she says with unmistakable pride: “My son is becoming a doctor.”

For Sharana Kumar, those words carry more meaning than any academic achievement. Much of what he does now is driven by the desire to justify the faith his mother placed in him long before anyone else did.

Medical college has brought a different set of challenges. Having completed his schooling primarily in Kannada, adjusting to MBBS taught in English has not been easy. Initially, understanding lectures, textbooks and medical terminology felt overwhelming. His professors encouraged him to revise repeatedly and reassured him that improvement would come with patience. Slowly, through consistent effort, he is beginning to overcome that barrier as well.

He often reflects on how much his world has expanded in just a few years. Before leaving his village, he did not even know that scholarships  existed to support higher education. It was only after arriving at the college hostel and interacting with fellow students that he learnt about the Shiksha Sankalp Society’s Lakshya Scholarship and applied for support.

Receiving the scholarship means far more than financial assistance. It eases the burden of educational expenses, reduces the debt weighing on his family, and allows him to focus on becoming the doctor he has worked so hard to become.

Beyond academics, Sharana Kumar has always enjoyed running and, at one stage, even dreamed of pursuing it competitively. Although medicine has now become his priority, the discipline and endurance he developed as an athlete continue to shape the way he approaches life’s challenges.

His long-term goal is deeply personal. Growing up in a remote village where quality healthcare was often inaccessible, he understands what it means for families to delay treatment because they simply cannot afford it. He hopes to serve people from underserved communities like his own, ensuring that financial hardship never becomes the reason someone is denied medical care.

Sharana Kumar’s story is not only about one student reaching medical college. It is about how opportunity can quietly reshape what an entire community believes is possible.

Somewhere in Gopanpalli B Tanda, children now have an example they have never had before, a young man who left the village to study medicine, not because the path was easy, but because he refused to believe that where he was born should decide how far he could go.

And for one mother who mortgaged everything she had without asking for anything in return, that journey has already made every sacrifice worthwhile.