Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Human Resource Development Minister Nara Lokesh on Monday met 25 specially-abled students here, whom he helped by issuing a government order (GO) recently, which enabled them procure admission in prestigious engineering colleges across the country.

Responding to a WhatsApp message from one of the students – M Prithvi Satyadev-, Lokesh directed officials to issue a GO which awarded the specially-abled students a marks memo with a fifth subject in their intermediate examination results by taking the marks of the four subjects for which they took the exams.

“As per Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) norms, specially-abled students are exempted from studying and appearing for any one of the two languages. Due to this exemption, Satyadev didn’t appear for his second language exam, and went on to score an A grade,” a TDP press release said.

For specially-abled students, the marks memo displays five subjects but the fifth subject is highlighted as exempted but IIT-Madras requires a marks memo for five subjects with marks awarded for all.

This requirement came as a rude shock to the IIT aspirant, which prompted him to send a Whatsapp message to Lokesh on June 22, prompting the Minister to approach the issue in a humane way.

He replied to Satyadev’s message and followed it up with a meeting with the student and his father.

Later, the minister instructed officials to award marks for a fifth subject for specially-abled students by calculating an average of the four subjects, thereby enabling the students to meet the necessary requirements of colleges like IITs, NITs, IIITs and other leading institutions.

Further, the IIT-Madras authorities also told Satyadev that a GO needed to be issued by the state government to this effect, which he followed up with Lokesh to successfully procure a seat.

“Lokesh got the authorities concerned to release a special GO with immediate effect. He also instructed officials to speak with IIT officials in Chennai. After the GO was released, Satyadev’s admission into IIT was confirmed,” said the press release.

Lokesh, a Stanford graduate, met all the 25 students at his residence in Undavalli on Monday and gifted them laptops.