Meet CBSE toppers from Mumbai who defied odds
Mumbai city news: While Rushab Shah, who was bedridden, scored 84.8%, Shreyansh Jain refused to be deterred by a bent spine and got 84%.
For the better part of last academic year, Rushabh Shah, a Class 10 student at Sheth Karamshi Kanji English School, Mulund, was bed-ridden.
He had developed psoriasis — a skin disease that causes the skin to itch, flake, break and bleed. He started preparing for his Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examination only by the end of January when he started recovering. Still, he managed to score 84.8%.
“I couldn’t go to school between July and January, because the condition of my skin had worsened,” said Rishabh. “The skin would break and there was pus oozing out. I would feel extremely hot or cold and I couldn’t even eat with my hands, he said.
By January, the school had already declared a study leave. “Every day, I would take him to school so that he could get his doubts cleared by the teachers,” said Yamini Shah, his mother. “He used to find it difficult to write or sit under a fan. But the teachers were really helpful and they went out of their way to teach him during the study leave,” she said.
Rushabh felt better during the exams and said that there was only “a little pain”. He now wants to take up science and wants to become a naval officer
Teen with a bent spine stays ‘strong’, gets 84%
A bent spine did not deter CBSE student Shreyansh Jain from achieving 84%. Despite undergoing two major surgeries to correct his spine, the 16-year-old, refused to take time out and continued studying even on the hospital bed.
Diagnosed with scoliosis — a condition that causes the spine to curve — at birth, Jain has been unable to stand or walk properly without support. He crawls on all fours at home and uses leg braces outdoors. His condition worsened months before the exam and he was hospitalised for more than two months.
“He missed school and was in excruciating pain,” said his mother Anita. “We suggested that he take the exam next year but he was determined to not give up. His willpower gave him strength,” she said.
The teen admits that he doesn’t intend to be left behind on account of his condition. “I am just as strong as everyone else. I studied for a couple of hours daily be it from the hospital bed or at home,” said Shreyansh, a student of Gopi Birla Memorial School.
Lending a helping hand, the school conducted extra classes to help him catch up. Shreyansh, who wants to take up commerce and do a master’s degree in business administration.
Teen crushed under train tops school
Austin Anthony, a 15-year-old from Kerala who was crushed under the wheels of a goods train in Mumbai on May 24, got a CGPA-10 in his CBSE exams, said a source from his family.
It means that Austin scored between 90% and 100% in all the subjects.
The boy also topped his school in a small village in Trichur, Kerala, claimed a relative.
On May 24, Austin was ion Mumbai with his family and they were about to take a train back home. They had to change platforms to catch the train and as they were carrying heavy luggage, they decided to avoid taking the foot bridge and cross the tracks.
A goods train was parked at the platform. The boy stood on the connector between two coaches of the train and helped the family driver pass the luggage to him, which he passed on to his father who stood at the platform.
Suddenly, the train took off and the boy fell on the tracks and was crushed under the wheels in front of his family.
His father attempted to pull the boy out but banged his head on the train and hurt his head. He was given first aid at the station.