Where there's a will: Son of gas vendor tops Bihar Class 12 exams

Proving that success can be achieved despite poverty, Ravish Kumar, son of a gas cylinder vendor, topped the Bihar Board class 12 examination for the science stream, according to a  report in NDTV. He told the channel_,_“I feel very happy. (I) Used to read the papers and see that many people from small and poor families could top and I used to wonder if I would.” The report added that Ravish’s dream is to get admitted into the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). He has already started coaching for the same. Ravish’s remarkable achievement is not the only example of students from poor backgrounds doing well in exams. The same report lauded Avinash Kumar, son of a generator operator, for topping the Bihar Board class 12 examination for the commerce stream. [caption id=“attachment_1548543” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Avinash’s father is a generator operator in town. He told NDTV, “My parents have supported me all through. (I) Have gone through a lot of problems because of me. I wanted to pay them back.” Apart from these exams, there have been other examples of student defying the odds and achieving their dreams. Last year, R Karthikeyan, son of a farmer, who was too poor to afford books for studying, got the fifth all-India rank in UPSC engineering services exam, according to a report in The Hindu. Karthikeyan also commented on the nature of education in India stating, “Most schools are like jails where students are regularly beaten.” Nirish Rajput, son of a tailor from Madhya Pradesh, also scored well in the civil services examination last year, according to a report in IndiaToday. The report added that Nirish studied 18 hours a day and studied completely on his own without any coaching to crack the exams.