BANGALORE: Topping National Science Olympiad was no cakewalk for Debeshee. It was the result of months of hard work and an open attitude towards learning new things. Debashee Das, a class 5 student at Bethany High School, secured the top rank by ousting 6,500 students from across the nation.
Speaking at the press conference she said, “I am happy and pleasantly surprised too. I never thought I would win this.” The National Science Olympiad had two levels. Six thousand five hundred students out of 7,000 were short listed for level 2. This achievement has put Bangalore as one of the competitive academic hubs of India in the Science Olympiad.
Debashees parents, both PhD holders, are still basking in the victory achieved by their 11-year-old daughter. Her father Debabrata Das proudly said, “I was surprised at the number of books she referred for this exam. Some of them were text books of standard 6 and some dealt with subjects of class 8 too.”
Sporting a simple smile was Mohua Das, Debashee’s mother who had just one thing to share, ‘hard work pays’. Papri Dutta Roy, teacher at Bethany School, said, “If there is a double promotion system today, Debashee is perfect for it. Some of the questions asked for the examination were beyond her level.”