HOSUR: One-and-a-half months after the Plus Two exam results were declared, the State has got a new topper. He scored a mark more than four students who were declared State first when the results were first announced in May.
S Balamurugan, student of Vidhya Mandhir Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Uthangarai in Krishnagiri district, achieved the distinction after he applied for revaluation. But there is no clarity yet on weather he will be officially declared State first. For, the government is doing some hair-splitting over whether he got the score through revaluation or retotalling.
When the Plus Two results were first announced in May, Balamurugan’s total tally was 1,176 on 2,000. The break-up: 187 in Tamil, 193 in English, 200 each in Physics and Mathematics, 197 in Chemistry and 199 in Biology. The four students who had shared the first spot in the State had tied at 1,183.
Balamurugan sought revaluation in Tamil. The result that came out recently gave him 195 in the subject, taking the total tally to 1,184.
Talking to The New Indian Express, Shanmugam, father of Balamurugan, said: “We struggled to educate our son till Plus Two with a paltry income earned through a small pawn broker shop in Tirupattur. Everyone in the family and school expected that he would get a state rank.”
Interestingly, K C Cinju, one of the four students who shared the state first rank this year, is Balamurugan’s schoolmate.
In the State Assembly in Chennai on Thursday, School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu announced that Balamurugan would get all rewards offered by the government to toppers, including a laptop and cash incentives.
The minister was responding to the query of Congress member C Gnanasekaran as to whether the government would extend the rewards — given to Plus Two toppers — to Balamurugan.
Gnanasekaran said as Balamurugan had scored the highest mark in re-totalling, he should be announced as the State first in Plus Two. Apparently, the Congress member got his facts wrong as Balamurugan had got it through revaluation, not re-totalling.
Thennarasu said it should be ascertained whether the student had got higher marks after revaluation or re-totalling. However, irrespective of this, the student would get all rewards announced by the government.
The government has already honoured the first rank holders with a cash prize of Rs 50,000, a laptop, assured free higher education and several other benefits. In addition, the district administration and private entrepreneurs offered monetary assistance to the rankers.