COIMBATORE: With 461 marks out of 500, 15-year-old Rishap Kumar, a native of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, topped the class 10 results at Thondamuthur government boys higher secondary school.
He scored 93 in English, 94 in maths, 97 in science, 90 in Social science. Even though he is from the Hindi heartland, Rishap is well-versed in Tamil and secured 87 marks in the language.
Rishap is the fifth and only son of his parents and lives with them in Pudupalayam near Thondamuthur. "All teachers taught me whenever I asked doubts in the lessons, especially in Tamil, and encouraged me to study better. As my elder sister suggested, I have opted to study computer science in Class 12 and want to study Information technology in the future," he said.
His father, L Ravishankar, who shifted from Uttar Pradesh 12 years ago, said, "I work in a gold covering company and I am proud that my son secured first mark in the school."
V Arunagiri, English teacher in the school, said, "Rishap has been studying in English medium since class 6. Of the 138 students who appeared for the class 10 exam, he secured first mark."
R Sumathi, Headmistress of Deenampalayam Primary School, Rishap's previous school where he studied till class 5, said "His Tamil handwriting was good and he could write without spelling mistakes. No one can make out that he is native of a non-Tamil-speaking state."