Bhubaneswar: Helped by crowdfunding, Odia Dalit rapper from Koraput managed to raise Rs 37 lakh for pursuing a course at the hallowed Oxford University in London.
Narayanpatna block’s Sumit Samos Turuk applied for the master’s degree (MSc) in Modern South Asian Studies in Oxford’s St Antony’s College in November last year and was shortlisted in January 2021.
However, the course fee for the one-year programme is Rs 25 lakh, excluding the other expenses amounting to Rs 15 lakh. Son of a primary school teacher in Narayanpatna block, Sumit could only arrange Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4 lakh for the course.
With no options left, the 26-year-old decided to raise the money via crowdfunding site Milaap after a few friends suggested him.
“My friends from India and Pakistan who have studied in Oxford helped me in the entire process. About 1,500 people from India, United Kingdom and United States donated Rs 37 lakh within four to five hours of opening the fundraiser on June 1,” Sumit was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express.
He got Rs 70,000 to Rs 1 lakh in every 15 minutes on the day.
“Though I need a few more lakhs, students of Oxford have requested the management to waive off some amount of the fee,” Sumit said.
An alumnus of Jeevan Jyoti Higher Secondary School in Semiliguda, Koraput, Sumit studied BA and MA in Spanish and Latin American literature from Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) from 2012 to 2017.
During his days in JNU, Sumit was involved in student activism and has been raising his voice against caste discrimination through rap since 2017. He was also part of French Radio Live show in Paris from 2018 to 2020.
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