Bengaluru: A small village called Patwatoli near Gaya of Bihar has etched a name for itself on the IIT map. 

Reason? Many boys and girls, numbering 250 have cracked the JEE to make it to the IITs, reports India Times. 

This village does not have more than a few thousand households. 

And the 250 who have cracked the JEE are testimony to how the students of this village aspire to get into the IITs. 

For parents here, their livelihoods are making towels. 

“The IIT boom hit Patwatoli in the early 2000s. Until then, there were no proper schools here, no good college nearby and nil job prospects. Girls were rarely literate, boys dropped out after class 10. Even as JEE coaching centres mushroomed across India, Patwatoli had never heard of IIT," says Dev Narayan, 26, an IIT graduate now working in Singapore,” reports India Times. 

“We don’t know what prompted him to attempt the exam … it was in the early 1990s. He lives in the US now. But his success spawned our common goal, which is like a movement,” says Sushish Kumar, one of the top scorers in the JEE of 2014.

It was the year 1999 when seven out of 16 boys secured a spot in IIT, the website adds. 

“We realised it’s not difficult to crack JEE, and we wanted to help others,” says Vijay Kumar, 39, as further noted by the website. 

It is small-known places like this that make us proud. 

Parents don’t earn big but have the will and the grit to ensure their kids get into these IITs. 

And hats off to these kids who have this dogged determination to shine and keep the flag of success high.