By Abdul Ghani, Twocircles.net
Guwahati: Sarfaraz Hussain of Guwahati topped Assam’s High School Leaving School Certificate (HSCL) examination with 590 marks (98.3%) in the results declared on Tuesday.
Sarfaraz has earned much appreciation for this outcome to overcome hardship in his life. “I worked hard. I never wanted to let my parents down. They worked even harder to provide me facilities. I’m happy that my results have made my parents proud,” said an elated Sarfaraz after the results were declared.
Sarfaraz’s father Azmal Hussain who works at a restaurant, broke down after he got the news of his son. “I don’t know how to react. I’m so happy today. I’m indebted to the Almighty and all the people who helped me. The teachers of his school have also been a great help,” said Azmal Hussain as tears rolled down his cheeks.
Sarfaraz appeared from Sankardev Sishu Niketan School situated in Guwahati’s Betkuchi area.
“I want to study engineering if possible. I like playing cricket and watching discovery channel,” Sarfaraz added.
His mother Suriya Begum said that they would try their best to make their son’s dream come true. “We are financially not very sound to bear all the expenses of his studies. But we will try our best to make his dreams come true of studying Engineering,” she said.
In the meantime, Assam education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited Sarfaraz and declared that his higher secondary study expenses will be taken care of by the state government. “We have ordered the authorities at Cotton College to make all the arrangements for free education for Sarfaraz. Besides, we have also announced a fixed deposit of Rs 5 lakh for his future studies,” Sarma said.
The overall pass percentage in this year’s Class 10 exam, conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA), improved slightly to 62.79% from last year’s 62.20%. A total of 381,585 candidates appeared for the examination, 239,614 of whom emerged successful.
In the Assam High Madrassa examination, results of which were also declared on Tuesday, Abu Sufian of Chapara Madrassa HS School, Dhubri district, topped the merit list.