UP board intermediate topper, Tanu Tomar said she could achieve the feat because her family gave her enough time to study. “My mother never forced me to do house work so that I could have enough time to study. I could have never achieved this without their support,” Tanu said while talking to HT over phone.

Tanu a resident of Bhadaut area of Western UP district of Baghpat got 97.8% by scoring 489 marks of the 500 intermediate exams, the results for which were declared on Thursday.

The eldest among three children of a farmer father and a house wife mother, Tanu dedicated at least five hours after school daily to revise her subjects. “I topped my school in class 11th and wanted to do it again. So, I planned my studies accordingly. I planned to top the school, but never imagined that I will be the state topper,” Tomar said.

She considers it a privilege that her parents gave her sufficient time to study. “All my classmates helped their family in work. But my parents never forced me to do household work, rather they asked me to concentrate on my studies,” she said.

Tanu’s father Harendra Singh, a Sugar cane farmer, considers his daughter’s success is the result of her hard work. “Tanu studied very hard throughout the year. She dedicated all her time in studies and also motivated her younger siblings to do well,” Singh said.

Tomar studied at local Sri Ram SM Inter college, never took to coaching and stayed away from the usual distractions. “I don’t carry a phone and don’t use any social media. I only know of whatsapp that I access on my father’s phone,” she said. A devout Shah Rukh fan, Tanu also sacrificed her love for movies for her studies. “I have not seen a single movie on television since March last year. I have also never visited a cinema hall to watch movie,” she claimed.

She wants to study hard to become a doctor in the future.

First Published: Apr 27, 2019 17:43 IST