A student of the S.S. Kulam Government Higher Secondary School in Coimbatore, who cleared the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) with 361 marks out of 720, has emerged topper among government school students in the district.
M. Gnanamsoundharya told The Hindu on Saturday that she did not attend private coaching classes. She prepared using the State Board textbooks, with occasional references to National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks for Classes XI and XII.
“I began preparing for NEET only after completing the Class XII public examinations,” she said.
Previous year question papers and support from the school teachers aided her preparation.
She attended the online NEET crash course organised by the Department of School Education for about 10 days in June and later quit because the teaching pace was “a little fast” for her. “I was satisfied after writing the examination, but I could not believe that I came first in the district among the government school students,” Ms. Gnanamsoundharya said. She aspires to become a gynaecologist.
According to her mother Muthukala, the girl’s father worked as a labourer in a factory at Vaiyampalayam. Five years ago he met with an accident and after that he was not able to go to work regularly. “We supported our daughter to the maximum extent,” she said, as she expressed happiness over her daughter’s achievement.
Headmistress of the S.S. Kulam Government Higher Secondary School R. Sridevi said that Ms. Gnanamsoundharya was among the four students from the school who cleared NEET 2020. “She is a hard worker,” the headmistress said, adding that her medical seat might get confirmed if the 7.5% horizontal reservation for government school students was approved.
If she does not get through, the school teachers and some donors are planning to fund her private coaching at a Namakkal-based institute to help her score better in NEET next year, Ms. Sridevi said.