Total score: 90.6 % Agam Dua with his father. (Gurmeet Singh)
Even as everyone hailed the CBSE toppers who bagged top ranks in the country, there were some names which did not figure in the toppers list, but proved to be real toppers in life. While Agam Dua, a child with special needs, scored 90.6 per cent marks in Commerce stream, Shehreen, a student from Economically Weaker Section (EWS) scored 80 per cent in Humanities despite her mother’s death before the exam.
Agam, a student at DAV Public School, BRS Nagar, Ludhiana, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was just a month old. His father Raminderpal Singh, a businessman, says, “My child has made me proud today. I just wanted him to score well, though, we knew he can score at least 80 per cent. But no one was expecting 90 per cent. My son did it despite all the pain and challenges. He has extreme muscle tightness since birth.”
Agam, despite being a slow learner and writer due to his condition, did not opt for a scribe and wrote all the papers himself. Though, he got four hours instead of three, as per CBSE rules for children with special needs. “All his teachers and friends were very cooperative. He had scored 8.4 CGPA in class too,” he added.
Shehreen, a student of Kundan Vidya Mandir (KVM), Civil Lines, Ludhiana scored 80 per cent in Humanities. “My father had left me and my four siblings when we were kids. I do not even remember his face. My mother had a brain stroke and she passed away in December. I did not even appear for pre-board exams in January. I had decided to leave studies and go back to Uttar Pradesh. It was only after my teachers encouraged to continue with my study that I started preparing for board exams,” she says. She is the youngest of her siblings and the only one to have cleared Class XII. Shehreen is now living with her aunt and will pursue graduation from her native place Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh.
Besides them, there were others who made their parents proud. Sushil, whose father Sudesh works as chowkidaar at KVM school, scored 79.4 per cent in Commerce, while Pallavi, whose father works as a peon in KVM, scored 79 per cent in Commerce. Farooq, son of a mason, also from KVM, scored 71 per cent in Humanities. KVM principal Navita Puri said that school had exempted fee of these four students.