They battled poverty and odds, came out shining

NOIDA: Two Noida students who scored over 90% in this year’s CBSE exams had battled poverty through their lives and their parents found it difficult to pay the school fees in time. As the results were announced on Saturday, their battle against odds paid off.


Muskan Parveen topped the Savitribai Phule Inter-College in Greater Noida, securing 95.8%. Her marks brought a pleasant surprise for her family, who had till the other day found it difficult to pay the fees.

Financial constraints had made it difficult for Muskan’s parents to clear the school fees till the last day of the exam. Today, they were proud parents of a daughter who wants to study psychology.

Muskan’s father Faizad Alam works as a mechanic in a Maruti service centre in Site IV. “We were suffering because of a delay in payment of dues. We could not pay the fees during the year but managed to deposit only on the last day of exam,” said Muskan’s mother Sitara Begum.

The financial stress, however, did not deter the girl from working hard and getting ahead of others.

Muskan stays in a humble accommodation with her parents and an elder sister in Greater Noida.



Humanities student Anushka Mishra, who studies in Amitasha School in Sector 44, scored 93%. Daughter of a worker in an iron factory, she stays in Sadarpur colony in Sector 44 with her parents and two elder brothers.

Anushka was initially studying in a school in Noida Sector 45 but later joined Amitasha in 2009.

“I was very excited as I was hoping to get new friends and atmosphere. I wanted to change my school, so I did not face any problem in the transfer,” she said.

Anushka, who has scored 100 in sculpture, wants to become a psychologist but fears that being a part of the general category, she might not get admitted.

“I am hoping to get admission in any college of DU, but I am from the general category. I don’t know if I will get a chance,” she said.