CBSE topper leads high-scorer club with 1 mark short of 500

CBSE topper leads high-scorer club with 1 mark short of 500

Arts Rubs Shoulders With Science, Comm In Top Bracket

Jhimli.Mukherjeepandey@timesgroup.com

Kolkata:31.07.2021 

One mark short of 500, Archisman Bandyopadhyay from South Point High School is perhaps the highest scorer of CBSE XII this year in the country. This is the second time this year that Bengal witnessed such an achievement; the first was a few days ago when the Higher Secondary results were declared and Rumana Sultana from Kandi in Murshidabad stopped short of the perfect score by just a mark.

South Point, celebrating Archisman’s achievement, will soon see him off as he leaves for the US to study mathematics as his intended major at the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He bagged admission to six reputable US universities but chose this campus because of its high global rank.

“I want to remain in the academics and pursue mathematics in higher studies,” he said.

Not too far behind was Megha Abedin, who topped DPS Ruby Park with 99.2%. It was an especially proud moment for her because she is from the humanities stream and scored much higher than the rest of the neartop scores from the science stream. “I want to stay back in Kolkata and study history in either Presidency or JU and then prepare for my civil services exams,” she said.

Nearly 47% candidates from DPS Ruby Park have scored above 90%. Abedin’s high score was shared by Lokesh Somani from the commerce stream at Birla High School and Sanchit Mukherjee from the science stream at BDM International School. Commerce students have reportedly fared better than those from the two other streams at Birla High School. “I am looking forward to studying economics honours at Delhi University, if I get a seat there. The experience of studying in Delhi will give me added confidence. The application process will start from August 2,” Lokesh said. With 56 boys placed above 95%, the school is overjoyed.

Ritu Kulshreshtha has topped her school, Shri Shikshayatan, scoring 99% in science. “My dream is to study computer science engineering at IIT Kharagpur. I have written the JEE Mains and I hope to be able to sit for the JEE Advanced, too,” she said.

Many schools are happy that while it is traditionally believed the toppers are mostly from science or commerce, several from humanities this year have bagged the top slot. Ronjinee Chattopadhyay from the humanities stream at BDM International has scored 99%. “I want to study sociology and will apply at Jadavpur University, Presidency and St Xavier’s College. I don’t want to leave the city just yet. I am not sure about what I wish to do after graduation and I hope the next three years will help me firm up my plans,” she said.

At Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, too, humanities pipped commerce and science this time, as Sakshi Singhania topped the school with 98.4%. The school has 49 students in the 95-plus category.