They pledged their pensions — Rs 1,000 (about $11) a month — so their son could become a doctor

Kepanga Sunamajhi is 70, a marginal farmer in Dhusari village, Odisha. His son did something remarkable: with no coaching, studying from books and the internet while helping on the farm, he passed India's fiercely competitive NEET medical entrance exam on his third attempt and won a seat at a government medical college in Jajpur. What the family did not have was the admission money. So Kepanga and his wife Nagatalu sold a portion of their land, borrowed — and pledged their old-age pension cards, worth Rs 1,000 (about $11) a month each, as security for interest-free loans of Rs 12,000 (about $126) apiece, Rs 24,000 (about $253) in all, from a moneylender and a women's self-help group who agreed to be repaid from the pension itself. The parents are left, for now, without that monthly income — proud, anxious, and entirely decided. Their son's seat is secure.

SDG 4 · Quality education — Mechanism: individual leader