Kullu’s Prakash tops state with 99.4%

Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, June 18

Girls outshone boys in the Class XII board examinations, the results of which were declared by the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPBSE) today. Of the 83 students who bagged the first 10 positions, 65 were girls and 18 were boys.

Last year, the results were declared in April but this year, due to the Covid -19 lockdown, the results had been delayed.

A total of 86,633 students had taken the exam this year — 49,878 students in the arts stream, 11,399 in commerce and 25,356 in the science stream. The pass percentage is 76.07, which is 14 per cent higher than last year. Girls have fared better with the pass percentage of 79.75. The percentage of boys clearing the exam this year is 72.42. Students have performed better in 2020 as in 2019, the overall pass percentage was 62.01.

In the science stream, Prakash Kumar from Kullu Science School of Education, Dhalpur, topped the state with 99.4 per cent marks, Shubham Jaswal from Mount View Public School, Bhanjal, in Una district came second with 99.2 per cent marks and Tanisha from Government Senior Secondary School, Pragpur, in Kangra district came third with 99 per cent.

In the arts stream, Shruti Kashyap from Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Rampur Bushahr, Shimla district, topped the examination with 98.2 per cent marks. Sushant Chauhan from Government Senior Secondary School, Nahan, came second with 97.8 per cent marks, while the third position was jointly bagged by Aanchal from Government Senior Secondary School, Paje Ki Dhal village in Pachhad of Sirmaur district, and Amrit Anshu from Modern Public School, Fagu, in Shimla district.

In the commerce stream, Megha Gupta from Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nahan, topped with 97.6 per cent marks, while Ambika Vikram from SD Senior SecondarySchool, Jhagriani, in Hamirpur district came second with 96.8 per cent marks. The third position was jointly bagged by five students — Kanika Sharma from Government Senior Secondary School, Jhagriani, Hamirpur district, Kritika from Saint DR Public Senior Secondary School, Gagret, in Una district, Saloni Joshi from Career Academy Senior Secondary School, Nahan, Anamika from ST DR Public Senior Secondary School, Gagret, in Una district, and Simran from Government Senior Secondary School, Cheog, in Shimla district with 96.6 per cent marks.

HPBSE Chairman SK Soni said all procedures were followed during checking of the examinations. The government schools fared well in the examinations. As many as 46 students from 83 top 10 positions in all three streams were of government schools. He said papers of students, who bagged the first 50 positions, were rechecked so that there was no anomaly in the merit list.

Prakash Kumar is the son of an auto-rickshaw driver from Kullu and hails from Lahaul and Spiti.

He is a student of Kullu Science School of Education at Dhalpur in Kullu district.

“I shall do graduation in the science stream and take coaching for the IAS exams. It is my dream to become an IAS officer. I want to make my parents and the school proud. I had worked very hard for the Class XII board examinations but had never expected that I would be the topper.”

Shruti Kashyap’s father Bhuvnesh Kashyap is an executive engineer in PWD and her mother Usha is a housewife. Like the two other toppers, Shruti also wants to become an IAS officer.

She is a student of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Rampur Bushahr, Shimla.

“I want to do graduation from Delhi University with political science as the main subject. However, due to the coronavirus outbreak, I do not know how long I will have to wait for admission there and what will be the merit list”.

Megha Gupta’s father Baljinder Kumar is a teacher and takes private tuitions.

She is a student of Government Girls Senior Secondary School at Nahan in Sirmaur district.

“I will do graduation in the arts stream from Nahan and prepare for the UPSC examinations. My schoolteachers were very supportive and they always egged me on to do more in life”.