SEBA Results: Shaswata Kangsa Banik and Shyamali Nath among toppers in Barak Valley

Secondary Education Board of Assam (SEBA) announced the result of school leaving examinations yesterday and Barak Valley is disappointed as not a single student made it into the merit list of top 10. In the ocean of disappointment, there are islands of brilliance too, something which must be acknowledged.

Ramanuj Vidya Mandir student, Shaswata Kangsa Banik son of Gobinda and Mohua Kangsa Banik scored 579 out of 600 and as per the available information that is the highest by any student from Barak Vallley. Nalbari’s Deep Jyoti Sarma secured the 10 position in the merit list with 583 which means Shaswata missed the merit list by a narrow margin of four marks.

“Yes, I am a little disappointed that I missed the merit list,” says he. Shaswata used to study for eight to nine hours a day in order to prepare himself for the examination, “After the school got over, I started working harder before that I used to only study for a couple of hours a day,” he informs.

Shaswata believes, if a student studies the class X textbooks thoroughly it is enough to score good marks, “That is 90 an above in the state board examination. Be it General or Advanced Mathematics, I have noticed that most of the questions are from the textbooks, yes there are a few trickier versions of the textbook questions but those are few and far,” he opines.

Throwing light on his preparation, he says, “As a part of my preparation for the board examinations, I first studied the textbooks well, tried to understand the chapters and then just a month and a half before the examination I started doing the exercises.”

He took private tuition for general and advance mathematics, general and social science and Hindi. He recognises the effort of his teachers as “huge” in his progress but his mother too played a pivotal role in his journey, “I was weak in mathematics but my mother worked hard for me to get better in the subject. Big credit goes to her for my performance,” Shaswata adds.

He has already started preparing for higher secondary examinations and wants to study in Ramanuj Gupta College. Going forward Shaswata wants to become an engineer.

Another such success story from Barak Valley, Shyamali Nath scored 577 of 600 to top the 2019 batch of Silchar Collegiate School. Just six marks behind the number 10 in the merit list, Shyamali Nath is the daughter of Umashakar Nath and Ruma Nath Choudhury. “I did feel bad after I got to know that I am not in the merit list but my family is very satisfied with my performance and that is something that made me feel very happy,” says Shyamali.

Shyamali says she used to study for four to six hours a day to prepare herself for the board examinations, “If you study attentively, I believe that duration is enough to score good marks,” she adds.

She attributes her success to her mother, uncle, grandmother and other family members, “All of them worked much harder than I did in the run-up to the examination. I am reaping the fruits of their hard work,” says the SCS topper. “I am especially thankful to my teachers Biswajit Chakraborty, Biswajit Dutta, Rupraj Bhattacharjee, Sayantani Bhattacharjee,” says she.

These are two success stories from Barak Valley that got hidden in the blanket of agony, and there are many more. “The merit list is just one factor of the school leaving examination, it makes headlines the next day but fades to oblivion the day after. What these students do in the future to develop themselves as professionals is what matters the most. Having said so, we must not take anything away for the students who made it to the top 10, well done and keep it up is my message to them,” sums up a professor.