Who is the topper of the CBSE in 2021?

While no official merit list of CBSE Class XII board exams 2021 been released, (according to news reports) Ansuiya Khushwah has scored a perfect 100% to become the national topper of CBSE 12th Board 2021 results. Ansuiya who hails from Badera village in Uttar Pradesh's Mahoba district is the only member of her family to have completed higher secondary, her story is inspirational and worth appreciation.

Daughter of a labourer, Ansuiya’s family has long struggled with matching means to ends. Her father as a labourer and a marginal farmer never had plenty to take care of his wife and seven kids. The growing demands of the growing family kept the children away from school. Her elder brothers completed their school only till Class 8 while none of her elder sisters went to school.

But for Ansuiya, a bright girl, her life changed when she qualified and was selected for VidyaGyan, a residential school that handpicks 200 rural toppers and provide them free education. A topper throughout, Ansuiya was determined to better her score at every step. It was this determination that helped her become her school topper as well as the district topper in her Class 10 Board Exams in 2019 when she scored 98.2% aggregate.

She was determined to score and achieve the perfect marks in Class 12 but COVID did not make it easy. “Online classes were very tough. Especially in the place where I live, with bad connectivity. But our teachers were patient and helped us throughout, answering our queries on whatsapp, taking calls to explain the concepts. It was more work that we could do in school. Lack of physical classes was acutely felt. So when schools reopened in February, we all were determined to make the best of the time we had and completely prepared to appear for the exam in May,” she shares.

Apart from her school, her family was all supportive as well. “They did not understand much since no one in my family ever completed their education. But they supported my dreams and gave me the space and time. They still don’t understand what I have achieved but are happy for me,” Ansuiya shares.

Looking forward, Ansuiya has her eyes set on LSR and wants to pursue a course in Journalism. She has already won a scholarship from Karm Trust and her higher education from Delhi University is fully paid for. She is mindful that she would have to start working when she completes her graduation to help her family but her aspiration is to crack UPSC Civil Services and become an IAS officer.

On the delicate question on people questioning her merit and score of 100 per cent since examinations were cancelled this year. “It is hurtful when people say that I have got the marks without studying. I worked hard throughout the year and was confident of scoring these marks. But I understand that they have doubts and it only makes me determined to work harder and prove that I only got what I truly deserve.” Ansuiya registered for 5 subjects which included English, Hindi, history, Geography and Painting and has scored 100 in all 5.

Hiteshwar Sharma, of the Humanities stream from Panchkula scored 99.8 per cent marks in his Class 12 CBSE Board — the highest in the UT, and one of the CBSE toppers in the country.

Hiteshwar, a student of Bhavan Vidyalaya, Panchkula — who successfully balanced academics and sports, playing cricket at the National Level — incidentally, was also the CBSE national topper for Class 10 in 2019.

Hiteshwar was the one who had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the PM had interacted with students on June 4. Hiteshwar had told the PM how it the way of conducting examinations has changed from offline to online, while everything else stayed the same. He had then also said that the person who consistently does hard work will emerge as the topper.

Sharma aims to become an IAS officer. His father Ashutosh Rajan is an Excise official while mother Meenakshi Sharma is a housewife.

One marks short of 500, Archisman Bandyopadhyay from South Point High School, Kolkatta is also a part of the CBSE Class XII Toppers list. He bagged admission to six reputed US universities but has chosen the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota because of its high global rank