Rishu beats the odds to score 98.66%

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 21

Rishu scored 98.66 per cent in Class XII exam results of which were declared by the Punjab School Education Board today.

Rishu is not a common student. He suffers from a rare genetic disorder known as Osteogenesis imperfecta. It is characterised by bones breaking more than often without any apparent cause. He appeared for the examination with one eye bandaged with a detached retina.

“He suffered fractures eight or nine times a year when he was younger,” said Lal Chand, Rishu’s father.

Rishu has had this problem since his childhood and his parents were denied admission for their son by many schools which refused to take responsibility of a student with a rare genetic disorder of bones breaking at a mild push.

As a child, he studied at SDAV Model Cosmic School, Bassi Pathana (Fatehgarh Sahib district). The then school principal gave a certificate, “His fragile structure may stir up feelings of sympathy….but nine-year-old Rishu is facing life in the bravest manner possible. Despite his frail bones, he gives strength to all”.

Rishu’s father is mathematics teacher and his mother Kusum Lata teaches social studies. Both are posted in Government Senior Secondary School, Mustafaba (Fatehgarh Sahib).

When asked what he planned to do in future, Rishu said, “I am preparing for the Common Entrance Test for a five-year degree in law.”