Weak sighted but perfectly focused

With 96.6 per cent marks, Anuj Goel has topped Class XII among all the government schools this year.

With 96.6 per cent marks, Anuj Goel has topped Class XII among all the government schools this year.

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Goel got 1.8 per cent less marks than CBSE’s all-India topper Tannvi Aggarwal.

But his score is just as creditable because he achieved it in spite of severely impaired vision.

In fact, Goel is also the all-India topper amongst physically challenged students.

Right from birth, Goel has been extremely myopic (nearsighted) and also nystagmic (he experiences persistent, rapid and involuntary movement of the eyeball, usually from side to side).

“I can’t see objects that are at a distance, and have to hold the book very close to my eyes while I am reading. After every hour, therefore, I take a 10 to 15 minutes’ break to rest my eyes,” said Goel.

A Commerce student of Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya, Shalimar Bagh, the 17-year-old has consistently performed well in academics.

Goel had scored 92 per cent in his Class X Boards. This time, he has notched up 99 marks in Mathematics, his favourite subject.

“I am really grateful to Sangeeta Jain, my teacher in primary school, who always seated me in the front row,” he said.

Goel also thanked his friend Amit Mishra, who, “sat next to me and helped me take down class notes, especially whatever was written on the blackboard.”

On Friday, Goel and his family were clueless about his achievement till they started getting calls from news organisations.

“Although we have always motivated him to do well in life, we had never expected that he would top the Board exams,” said CK Gupta, Goel’s father, who is a senior audit officer with Municipal Corporation of Delhi. “He has exceeded all our expectations.”