Dehradun : This capital city of Uttarakhand was known for its quality schools even before this small mountain state was carved out of Uttar Pradesh.
But this is perhaps for the first time that a student of one of the schools of the city has topped the country in the Indian School Certificate (Class XII) examination in recent memory.
The credit for this goes to Bhuvanya Vijay, a student of St Joseph’s Academy who has brought laurels not only to the known public schools of the city, but put both Dehra Dun and Uttarakhand on the pedestal of glory.
What is all the more surprising is that Bhuvanya is not a coaching institute maniac but prefers to study on her own and seeks the help of her parents and teachers to overcome problems.
Most of the public schools in the city were known to get 100 per cent results, from decades back, when the Senior Cambridge (Class XI) exams were in vogue.
Ever since the switch over to the Council of Indian Certificate examinations, they have only upped this and the schools still boast of 100 per cent results, with the majority being first divisions. But there has been no country topper.
A school that has made a place for itself, albeit in academics, is Brightland School. Of the 116 students who appeared for Class XII this year, 21 got 95 per cent or more marks and 54 others who got more that 90 per cent marks.
In fact almost all these so-called public schools have upped the percentage of marks received by their students in both Class X and Class XII examinations.
Coming back to Bhuvanya, she claims that after doing exceptionally well in her Class X exams also she wanted to quit physics and chemistry as the subjects “bored” her and also the fact that she had no interest in either becoming an engineer or doctor.
“I wanted to opt for the humanities stream in my Class XII exams, but as my school did not have the potion, I continued with the science stream subjects”, she added.
Daughter of IFS officer of the Uttarakhand cadre, she is all out for taking the CLAT examination and hopefully getting into the Bangalore National Law School.
However, she is keeping her options open after finishing her degree in Law. Asserting that she is not a book worm, she maintains that she watches television serials and has won a first place in the Frank Anthony debates.
A journalist with over 40 years of experience, Jagdish Bhatt was Editor, Hill Post (Uttarakhand).
Jagdish had worked with India’s leading English dailies, which include Times of India, Indian Express, Pioneer and several other reputed publications. A highly acclaimed journalist, he was a recipient of many awards
Jagdish Bhatt, aged 72, breathed his last on 28th August 2021 at his Dehradun residence.
Is there a consolidated list of toppers by stream available for ISC 2013 exams ?