R. Rishap Kumar, who appeared for Class X board exams last academic year, emerged as the school topper at the Thondamuthur Government Boys Higher Secondary School.
ADVERTISEMENT
What makes Rishap’s high marks stand out is that, a native of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh who is living in Tamil Nadu since he was five years old, Rishap was also the school topper in Tamil in the board examination.
His parents Ravi Shankar (50) and Shanba Devi (43) work at a jewellery unit here and his four elder sisters help him study.
ADVERTISEMENT
He topped his school by scoring 461 of 500 marks in Class X and received ₹7,000 from the school alumni fund recently. He continues in Class XI in the same school this year. “I want to work in the Information Technology field,” he said.
Rishap joined the Deenampalayam Primary School and studied in Tamil medium till ClassV. Though he found it difficult to understand the language initially, he developed interest in it gradually.
“My teachers helped all through the way, especially with Tamil,” he said. Rishap’s erstwhile class teacher V. Arunagiri said though he shifted to English medium at the Thondamuthur school, his reading and writing skills in Tamil were better than most students in the class. "His handwriting is very neat, especially in Tamil. He has won many Tamil essay and elocution contests in the school since Class VI."
According to Deenampalayam school headmistress R. Sumathy, “It is Rishap’s interest, efforts, and love for the language that helped him pick it up efficiently and score high marks. He caught on to the intricacies like kuril and nedil, and will write whatever is dictated without errors.”
His Class X Tamil teacher at the Thondamuthur school R. Natrajan, added, "Initially he was very shy. But, his confidence developed after he was encouraged to join competitions. He would repeatedly ask doubts, show me improved versions of his write-ups to improve himself, and make the most of the class, which is very motivating for the teacher as well."