Records were broken and expectations were exceeded by students whose Class 12 Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) results poured in on Monday.
With 482 out of 500 marks or 96.4 per cent, city lad Gagan Acharya inched out tight competition to emerge as the topper in the district. Passing out of St. Lourdes School in Bejai, Mr. Acharya said the result exceeded his expectations which, at 95 per cent, were pretty high to begin with.
Topping the examination here is just another feather in the cap for him, after scoring a perfect CGPA of 10 in his class 10 examination and numerous Olympiads to his name. “I had joined coaching for IIT JEE and this prepared me for the CBSE examinations, too,” said Mr. Acharya.
When the pressures of the examinations would get to him, Mr. Acharya said he relaxed by playing with his two cats (following them around helps me focus, he said) and writing computer programmes. The topper now sets his sights on the JEE Advance paper, through which he aims to be a mechanical engineer. For St. Lourdes School, not did all its 35 students clear the examination, but it also has two toppers in the district. Sharach Chandra follows his classmate, with 481 marks.
For Kendriya Vidyalaya in Panambur, where 61 out of 62 students passed the examination, the results broke the college records; V.M. Karkal, Principal, said Ameya Kulkarni, who secured 96 per cent this year, and second ranker, Sunil Simha with 95.4 per cent, have scored the highest marks in the school’s 20-year history (the previous highest percentage was 95.3).
Mr. Kulkarni attributed his marks to teachers, textbooks and tuitions. Originally from Pune, he shifted to the city seven years ago after his father took up a job with Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organisation here.
He aims for an engineering course through the IIT-JEE advance examinations.
Records were also broken at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Mudipu, which saw all 40 students passing with flying colours. G.J. Socrates, Principal, said the average marks secured by the college was 83.2 per cent, which surpasses all previous results in the five-years of Pre-University education there.
The topper there is Rakshita B. Shetty, who said the focus on all-round development, including daily sports, at the residential school helped her cope with the pressure. “I’m applying for engineering, and hopefully, should get to a good college after the CET (Common Entrance Test) results are announced on Tuesday,” she said.
The fourth CBSE college in the district, Sharada Vidyanikethana Public School, Talapady, had eight of their nine students passing the examination.