CBSE exams: Girls grab all top positions in Chandigarh tricity
Deepankar Sharda
Chandigarh, May 13
Breaking the past trends, students from various schools have topped the CBSE Class X and XII exams in the tricity. In the past few years, the toppers represented one particular institution. Girls have again outnumbered boys to claim all top positions.
In Class 12, Ananya Pandey of Bhavan Vidyalaya, Panchkula, has topped in humanities with 98.8 per cent marks, Arshpreet Kaur Gill of Bhavan Vidyalaya, Sector 27, in commerce with 98.8 per cent, Baljot Kaur of Shivalik School, Mohali, in medical with 98.4 per cent and Mishika Singla of SGGS Collegiate Public School, Sector 26, in non-medical with 98.4 per cent marks. In Chandigarh, a total of 11,839 students appeared for the Class XII exams, of whom 10,501 passed the exams. In Class 10 exams, of 10,023 students, 7,891 candidates passed the exam.
Sportspersons excelling in academics too
Twins Tanmay Dhankhar and Tanistha Dhankhar, both from Sacred Heart School, Sector 26, scored identical 94 per cent in Class 10. Tanmay represented the city in four basketball national events and won gold medals in the state relay race and in netball inter-school games. Tanistha won gold in state relay race and netball. Manpreet Kaur, a national-level judoka, from the same school scored 94.8 per cent marks.
Players of St John’s School, Sector 26, Aftab Singh Hajra (national silver medallist in roller skating with 92.4 per cent), Shiven Tiwari (state gold medallist in athletics with 93 per cent), Uchhit Soni (national-level squash player with 91 per cent ), Rushil Prashar (national-level cyclist with 91 per cent ) and Aditya Sharma (state bronze medallist in cycling with 90.2 per cent ) also excelled in the exam.
Shourya, a student of Shishu Niketan School, Sector 22, scored 93.2 per cent. He is a state-level skater and won many medals.
International fencer Ekam Toor, a student of Carmel Convent School, Sector 9, scored 84.8 per cent in humanities (Class XII). She played in the Cadet Asian and World Fencing Championship.
Arshpreet Kaur, Bhavan Vidyalaya, Sector 27
She wishes to pursue BCom (Economics) from Delhi University and excel in the field of accountancy. “I have never seen the clock while preparing for my examination. The aim was to score good marks and get admission to Delhi University,” she said.
Ananya Pandey Bhavan Vidyalaya, Panchkula
Ananya wants to study BA Economics (Honours) from Delhi University and become an IAS officer. “It’s very important to manage time to be able to perform well in any field. I also relied on weekly revision for the studies. I avoided social media during my exams,” said Ananya.
Baljot Kaur, Shivalik Public School, Mohali
Aiming to pursue a career as oncologist, Baljot studied for almost five hours after school. Her father is a farmer. “My elder sister, who is pursuing engineering, helped me a lot,” she said.
Mishika Singla, SGGS Collegiate Public School-26
Mishika aims to make it big in engineering. She would like to pursue further studies from IIT-Bombay or PEC. “My parents take care of my routine and I study for almost eight hours a day,” she said.
Class X: Akshdha, Sukirti joint toppers
Akshdha Sharma, (Gurukul Global School, Mani Majra)
Coming from a family of doctors, Akshdha took everyone by surprise by her performance. She gives credit to extracurricular activities for her overall development. A skater, pianist and painter, Akshdha aims to become an engineer and get admission to an IIT. “ I devote most of my time studying and doing extracurricular activities. I prefer to stay away from social media. And, thankfully, my family never forced me to pursue medical,” said Akshdha.
Sukirti Abrol, (Shivalik Public School, Sector 41)
Coming from a sports background, a national-level chess player and avid footballer, Sukirti aims to pursue engineering. “I want to make it to the IIT-Bombay and I have started preparing for the same. Playing chess gives me the strength to concentrate and football relaxes me. I usually do self-study for two-three hours every day and looking ahead to increasing the study time. I will be concentrating on competitive examinations to get into the top institutions of the nation,” said Sukirti.
Beating the odds
“See the person, not the disability.” For 18-year-old Rajeev, who hails from Balewal village, near Malerkotla, life was never easy, but he overcame every hurdle to achieve a moment of his lifetime today. Rajeev, a student of Institute for Blind, Sector 26, scored 88.6 per cent marks in humanities to top the city in his respective category. Since childhood, Rajeev wanted to become a cricketer. However, with only 20 per cent vision, he was not even entertained by the fellow students. With the years passing, his vision was reduced to a mere 10 per cent. However, his willingness to make fame never ended. His father, who runs a small roadside food joint, decided to shift him to Chandigarh at the age of 11. He recently represented Chandigarh in a cricket national for blind tournament, and also won medals in athletics meet for blind.
Aeida tops Mohali district
Shifting from Srinagar in 2016-17 for pursuing studies, Aeida Younis, from The Gurukul, Zirakpur, topped Mohali district by scoring 98.6 per cent marks in Class X emams. She scored a perfect 100 in mathematics, science and information technology. “I wish to become a doctor,” said Aeida.
Govt schools perform well
The local government schools also performed better this time.
In Class X, the overall pass percentage was recorded at 78.73 per cent as compared to 70.43 per cent in last year — a jump of 8.3 per cent. A total of six schools have scored 100 per cent results.
A total of 64 students from various government schools secured 90 per cent and above marks.
In Class XII, the government schools recorded a 6.54 per cent rise in the overall result with the passing percentage of 88.69 percent compared to 82.15 per cent in 2022-23. A total of 42 senior secondary schools have scored 95 per cent and above this year, and last year, 11 schools, out of 42, posted 95 per cent and above result.
