Succeeding against all odds

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 14

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Such is the story of these teenagers, Dhanu and Ashish Jain, who scored over 90 per cent in CBSE Class XII exams, results of which were declared yesterday, despite the financial crisis in their families.

Dhanu, a student of DAV School, Sector 8, scored 95.6 per cent in the commerce stream. The only earning member of the family, her father, works as a delivery boy with a food aggregator. Such is the confidence of this girl that she sometimes teaches his elder brother, who is studying at a local college. She achieved the feat without attending any tuition classes. “Earlier, my father used to work with a news agency but as they shut their business, he started working as a delivery boy. I never wanted to become a burden on him. My schoolteachers helped me to get books and good teaching. I will pursue BCom and the prepare for the civil services exams,” said Dhanu, while giving credit to school Principal Jaskiran Harika and her class teacher Maninder. She claims to have started a YouTube channel for sharing inspirational stories.

Son of a towel vendor aims for IAS

The story of 19-year-old Ashish Jain, a student of Shishu Niketan School, Sector 22 (D), is no different. After his father faced losses in business in 2005, his life changed completely. He scored 91.8 per cent in the commerce stream and made his father (a towel vendor outside a gurdwara in Sohana) proud. He works from a small space on a pavement. Jain wants to pursue BBA so that he can help is father expanding his business and will also prepare for civil services exams on his own. “It’s all due to the efforts of my schoolteachers. My financial conditions did not allow me to attend tuitions. My father has taught a lot to me and I don’t want to make him feel low at any moment of my life. Clearing civil services exam is a dream and I have started doing some research. I think this journey will be totally based on self-study,” said Jain. School Principal Amita Khorana congratulated Jain and also said that a total of 94 students scored above 90 per cent. She said school student Srishti scored 98.2 per cent in commerce, Cheruv Singh scored 97.4 per cent in medical and Dakshit Babbar scored 96.4 per cent in non-medical.

GMSSS-35 sportspersons shine

Meanwhile, around 13 players of baseball and softball from Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 35, shined in board exams. Five of these scored over 90 per cent — Kiran Rawat (95.8 per cent), Omika Sachdeva (94.2 per cent), Taranjeet Kaur (91.6 per cent), Akshita Kamboj (91.6 per cent) and Aarshi (90.2 per cent) — in humanities.

Chitkara Int’l players excel

With cent per cent passing average, Chitkara International School, Sector 25, sportspersons also achieved the best in sports. Cager Jessica Saini scored 96 per cent marks in humanities. Sukhman and Hira Bahadur also excelled with 95 per cent and 94 per cent, respectively.