Pandemic no bar: How some Delhi students overturned odds to come out with flying colours in Class 12

From contracting and surviving Covid-19 just ahead of the practical tests to coping with the family’s financial setbacks as the pandemic raged, several Class 12 students in the Capital braved all odds thrown up by the pandemic to come out with flying colours in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) results announced on Friday.

Among them is 18-year-old Tahira, a resident of Khoda village, who woke up at 3 am everyday for over a year to study for three hours before taking up her day‘s responsibilities in a family of seven. The Commerce student, who scored 95% in her Class 12, tutored several children to save money for her own higher education.

“My father works as a peon in a private firm and that is the only source of income in our family. I know they will not be able to support my higher education. So I knew I had to learn how to teach so that I can have an education and economic independence,” said the student of Government Girls Senior Secondary School in New Kondli.

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Sunita Bhati, a Class 12 teacher at the school, said, “Her articulation and communication skills are so good that she tutored senior secondary students, even during the lockdown, to save money for college. For girls from marginalised backgrounds, the situation is always far more challenging because the little available resources in these families get allocated to the male child or for other family requirements.”

CBSE, which cancelled the Class 12 board exams due to the Covid situation in the country between April-June, devised an alternate assessment mechanism to score students on the basis of their performances in the classes 10 and 11, and the internal tests of Class 12. The results were announced on Friday.

Jiya Vashishtha, 17, a Class 12 student of RPVV Surajmal Vihar, contracted the disease in April along with her entire family ahead of her practical examination. “Even when I was infected, I kept preparing for my board examination because till that point, we didn’t know if our exams will be conducted or not. I appeared for my practical examination just after recovering from Covid. While it was just viva-voce, we had to prepare and go through what he had studied the entire year and that was a little tiring. I was relieved that I contracted the disease after my pre-boards were over in March,” said the Commerce student who scored 95.8%.

While some students battled personal losses in the family, several others had to suffer due to financial setbacks.

Son of a weekly-market vendor, Sanjay, 17, experienced the crisis first-hand after weekly markets were closed in March last year.

“It was difficult to prepare for any tests or exams because I was constantly stressed about my family’s well-being. My father began selling utensils while roaming around the city. But this put his health at risk. I knew if something happened to him, we wouldn’t have the money to treat him and even if he was saved, we wouldn’t be able to repay the loans,” said the Humanities student from School of Excellence Kalkaji, who scored 94.25% in the boards.

Due to financial constraints, the civil services aspirant often found it difficult to get internet packages on his phone so that he and his younger sister could attend online lessons.

Mayank Ahuja, 17, a student of The Indian School who scored 95% in Humanities, said his mid-term scores were affected after his family contracted Covid in July last year.

“It was scary because my parents sat me down and explained about insurance policies and how I had to take care of my younger brother if something happens to them. That conversation is a very bad memory. While we recovered in around a month, it became very hard to focus on anything including my studies. Since those were the initial days of Covid-19, we were even apprehensive of even telling others because people started treating you differently,” said the teenager, who wants to pursue journalism

Out of the 3,925 children with special needs this year, 129 students scored 95% and above across the country. Among them is Suhana Bhutani, 18, a student of Amity International School in Saket diagnosed with dyslexia from Class 1, who scored 96.75% in the Science stream.

“There were some advantages [of online classes] like I got more time for self-study and do practice tests. But reaching out to teachers got more difficult in the online mode. During my Class 10 boards, I used a scribe for my pre-boards but that wasn’t possible this year due to the pandemic. Sometimes, I couldn’t complete my papers because I couldn’t write as fast,” said the medical aspirant.

While the high scores spread a little cheer, the struggle is far from over for many of them.

Tahira, who dreamt of studying in Shri Ram College of Commerce, is looking at alternate study options as the college’s fee structure has left her dejected. “I don’t think I will be able to afford a regular course. I have been preparing for the staff selection commission exams (SSC-CHSL) since February and hope to clear it this year so that I can earn money and enroll into a correspondence course at least,” she said.