No internet at home, no expensive coaching and limited family income- but two sisters from a remote village in Odisha refused to let any of it come in the way of their dream of becoming doctors.Yajnaseni and her younger sister Dibyaseni, residents of Mahulapankha village in the Mayurbhanj district, have cleared the NEET 2026 after preparing largely through self-study and online classes. Their unusual preparation involved travelling away from home and climbing nearby hilltops whenever they needed a stronger mobile network.According to a report by Odisha TV, the sisters come from a financially struggling family. Their father, Gouranga Khatua, is a farmer, while their mother, Sunita, works as an Anganwadi helper. With the family’s limited income, paying for private NEET coaching was not an option. But the lack of coaching did not mean the sisters stopped preparing.
Limited family income kept the sisters away from expensive coaching. (Photo: Argus News)
When the classroom was a hilltop
For many NEET aspirants, preparation means classrooms, coaching centres, test series and uninterrupted access to online study material. For Yajnaseni and Dibyaseni, even something as basic as an internet connection could not be taken for granted.The sisters relied mainly on online classes and self-study. However, poor mobile connectivity in their village frequently disrupted their access to online lessons. So, whenever they needed a stable network, they would leave home and climb nearby hilltops to study.Speaking to Kanak News, the sisters recalled, ““There was no proper mobile network near our home. We would go to the hill to study when we needed the internet. Sometimes, we even studied on the phone until midnight.”It was an inconvenient arrangement, but it allowed them to continue accessing the educational resources they could not otherwise afford. The sisters turned the lack of basic facilities into a challenge they were determined to overcome. Their story is less about a single moment of success and more about the daily effort required to keep studying when the usual support systems were missing.
The younger sister cleared NEET on her first attempt and the elder sister cleared on her third. (Photo: Argus News)
One succeeded on her third attempt, the other on her first
The sisters’ journeys to NEET success were not identical. Yajnaseni cleared the medical entrance examination on her third attempt, while her younger sister Dibyaseni succeeded in her first attempt, according to Odisha TV.Speaking about her preparation, Dibyaseni told Kanak News, “There was very little guidance available to me. My elder sister was my biggest guide and she guided me throughout.”For Yajnaseni, the third attempt eventually brought the breakthrough. For Dibyaseni, the first attempt was enough. Together, however, their results have given the family a reason to celebrate and brought them closer to their shared ambition of pursuing medical education.
Parents supported them despite limited means
Behind the sisters’ preparation was a family that had to make difficult financial choices. Their father earns through farming, while their mother works as an Anganwadi helper. The family’s income has to meet household expenses as well as support the education of their daughters.Despite those limitations, their parents continued to support their studies. The sisters’ achievement has now turned what could have been a story of deprivation into one of perseverance. For Yajnaseni and Dibyaseni, that improvisation meant taking their books and phones to the hills.
More than a NEET result
Clearing NEET is only the beginning for the sisters. The examination has opened the door to medical education, but their journey ahead will bring its own challenges.Still, their story offers a striking reminder that academic preparation does not always happen inside a coaching classroom. Sometimes it happens wherever a student can find a little time, a textbook and, in their case, a mobile signal.The sisters’ achievement is particularly striking because they did not have the conventional advantages associated with NEET preparation. They had neither private coaching nor reliable internet access at home. What they did have was access to study material when they could find a network, the support of their parents and the determination to keep going.Their journey from a village with poor connectivity to clearing one of India’s most competitive medical entrance examinations is therefore not simply a story about two students cracking NEET. It is also a story about how students in India’s rural hinterland continue to find their own ways around the barriers between them and their ambitions.And for these two sisters, sometimes the road to becoming doctors began with a climb up a hill. The sisters told Kanak News that their aim is not just to become doctors but also to serve people who need medical care.