Both the SLC toppers of this year want to study medicine

By THAKUR AMGAI

Bishal Khanal (Top among boys)

Bishal Khanal, of Everest Boarding School, Butwal, not only topped the board exam of School Leaving Certificate (SLC) 2004, but also set a new record. The percentage of marks he secured is the highest in the 71 years history of SLC exams. He scored 756 out 800 (94.5 percent) full marks.

Obviously, an intelligent boy of 16, Bishal, comes from a family with a weak financial background. A three-roomed house and 10 kathhas land is the only property his family possesses. Even the house is on the verge of being auctioned by a finance company, to which Bishal’s parents had incurred debt and not been able to pay back. Amidst all these hardships of the debt-ridden family, Bishal’s achievement in the SLC exam brought an ambience of happiness in his family and his school soon after one of the local F.M. Radios announced Bishal’s name as the Board topper of this year.

The news that Bishal had topped the SLC board came as a big surprise to Bishal, his family, his neighbors and the school, as nobody had expected such a big success from the humble boy.

“I attribute this success to continuous hard work and the co-operation of my teachers and parents,” said Bishal, who hopes to become a doctor in the future. Bishal, who used to spend 5/6 hours for studies daily, feels that bookish knowledge in not enough for a success. “Success comes not merely from becoming “bookworm”. One needs to read newspapers, general knowledge, and so on,” he said.

His schoolteachers say that he was equally interested in extra curricular activities, particularly in literature. Born on January 20, 1989, in Butwal, a western town of the country, he never came second in the school exams ever since the first grade.

The only son of primary school teacher Nurdev Khanal and Bhagwati Khanal, Bishal was awarded scholarship by his school throughout his schooling. He hopes to get financial assistance for further studies also, without which his dream to become a doctor would not materialize.

His father claims that the success of his son is testimony to the fact that students from lower middle class can compete equally well with students from elite class who are much more privileged. Despite the poor financial condition, Bishal’s parents have supported him in every way possible for his studies. “We have endured a lot of hardships to educate our son so far. We will continue to do so in the future also,” said both his parents in unison.

Pratisha Gyawali (top among girls)

A student of one of the highly esteemed schools of the capital, Pratistha Gyawali, topped the SLC board among the girls securing a total of 707 marks (88.37 per cent). Like Bishal, she, too, wants to be a doctor in the future. “It takes confidence and commitment to succeed,” says Pratistha, who claims to have studied 8 hours daily during the exam time.

Her father, Krishna Gyawali, is a joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance. Pratistha, who was born in 1988 July in Biratnagar, did her early schooling in London when her father was there. She joined Galaxy Public School in grade four and has been studying there ever since.

For Pratistha, too, the news that she had topped the SLC examination among girls was very unexpected. However, the principal of her school, Geeta Rana, claims that she had no doubt that Pratistha would top the exams as she was one of the most intelligent girls of her batch.

The pass rate in the SLC examination this year is the highest after the introduction new curriculum in 2000. Out of the total students appearing for the exam, more than 46 per cent passed the exam this year, as compared to 32.6 per cent last year. However, the increase in the pass rate is, as analysts claim, not a result of improvement of school level education, but a manipulation of the exam taking and correction mechanism.

This year, a total of 317,000 students had appeared for the annual SLC exam. Out of which, 175,400 were regular examinees.