ICSE's numero uno Shalaka aspires to beat the best

Thane resident Shalaka Kulkarni has been ‘on top of the world’ since Saturday evening. And she has every reason to be. Shalaka, with 98.8 percent topped the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) class ten examinations in the country this year.

This 15-year-old is a trained Kathak dancer who aspires to become a scientist. “I plan to do research work in the future and will be enrolling for an engineering degree,” says the ICSE topper.

A student of Thane’s Shreemathi Sulochanadevi Singhania School, Shalaka believes it is important for a person to strive to be better than the best. “If you strive to be better than the best then it means that you are striving to become not only your best but the best among everyone,” she says.

She attributes her success to meticulous planning. During her preparation she constantly managed time effectively, prioritised and evaluated her past performance.

Shalaka says that she had set a target of 98% and knowing that her target was high, she had ‘hoped’ to top the West zone, but being the topper of the board wasn’t something she had expected.

The national topper dedicates her success to her mother and her school principal, Shalaka says “I owed this to my mother and my school principal. They have done so much for me. My mother has always taken care of my grooming and with the help of my school principal Mrs Revathi Srinivasan, I have achieved this success.”

Shalaka is now all set to take up further studies in science and wants to study in IIT Bombay. When asked about what target she has set for herself in the 12th class examination, a confident Shalaka says she wants to repeat history.