Kajal, a student of Class XII from Saraswati Vidhya Mandir Sector II of BHEl, has made the district proud scoring the highest marks in board examination. She ranked first from the State along with Anjali Rawat from Rishikesh. Kajal, hailing from a humble family that resides in Gandhi market under Jwalapur area of the district, has scored 476 out of 500 in Uttarakhand State board examination of XII standard. Notably, she scored 100 in Mathematics. Her marks were 97 in Physics, 95 each in Chemistry and Hindi and 89 in English.
Kajal’s mother works as a helper in a private company based in SIIDCUl area of the district on a contract basis. Her father Ram Pal is a cobbler. He sells footwear on weekly markets (haat) in nearby areas. In an exclusive talk with The Pioneer, Alka, mother of Kajal, said that her daughter is a normal girl. “When I am absent from home for some reasons she cooks food for the family and does other domestic chores. We were astounded when she ranked 19th in the state’s X board examinations,” she said.
Kajal’s parents paid Rs 650 per month as a school fees for both their children now studying. Ram Pal claimed that the school had not given any concession to Kajal regarding the tuition fees. “I did not mind paying the fees. Today I am a happy and proud father,” he said. Kajal said she had scored these marks without going for any coaching even for a single day. “I did not need it as my teachers took full care of my studies. Besides, there is a good library in the school. It helped me too to a great extent,” she said.
She has already cleared the JE mains exams and waiting for the state counseling to be held in July this year. “I long to be a chemical engineer or a civil engineer,” she said, beaming. However, her father looked worried over her higher studies. “As you know, the fees for engineering institutions are too much for us to collect. We would do everything to collect the sums. However, it would be better if the Government steps in to ensure Kajal faces no hiccup on her way to higher studies,” he said.