• Ashni Dhaor, HT
Rakshit Malik with his mother Rachna Malik after the CBSE results were announced on Saturday. (HT Photo)

 

 

With 96.4%, Rakshit Malik, a visually-impaired student of Amity International School, Noida is the third national topper in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 12 board exams, under the physically challenged category.

Rakshit, who has 10% vision, has been visually impaired since birth and took the exam with the help of a scribe. The 18-year-old scored full marks in history and a total aggregate of 482 out of 500.

He further scored 98 in economics, 96 in political science, 95 in psychology and 93 in English.

“The biggest contribution to my achievement has been my mother who worked relentlessly with me day and night. I would sit right in the morning at 8 am to study and would only get up for food. In fact, during the boards, my mother got a tiffin service to deliver food at our house because she would sit with me to make me learn and could not cook for the family,” said Rakshit.

A resident of Karkarduma in Delhi, Rakshit stays with his mother, a housewife, and his father who owns an electronics showroom in Krishna Nagar. His brother Rachit is also a top scorer and graduated from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) in Delhi University this year.

Given his visual impairment, Rakshit is slow in reading and writing text. So, his mother and school teachers had his textbooks printed in large font to make reading easier.

“There have been various challenges in facilitating Rakshit’s education at a normal school rather than a special school. He is not able to read the blackboard and hence would have to take help from a friend. I would take a bold marker and write down all economic formulas for him in big fonts so that he learns them. I had to keep special focus on his nutrition as well, during examination, as reading too much would strain his eyes sometimes,” said his mother Rachna Malik.

 

Teachers at Rakshit’s school say he has been a very active student and regularly participates in orations, debates and essay writing competitions.

“Rakshit has been with us since class nursery and he is a very courteous and groomed child. He is one of our favourites as he would never let anyone feel that he is disadvantaged in any manner and is one of the best debaters at school. Our teachers would always help him out in studying and we would print out work assignments in large fonts to facilitate him,” said Renu Singh, principal, Amity International School, Noida.

 

Rakshit now aims to pursue bachelors in history from his dream college, St. Stephen’s College in Delhi University.

“I have scored full marks in history and hence plan to pursue graduation in the same as it is my favourite subject. I hope of getting into St Stephen’s college as it is one of the most prestigious ones in the country,” he said.

So, will college be more daunting for Rakshit? He simply says slow and steady wins the race.

“I started preparing for the board exams since May 2015 and worked slowly and steadily. Being slow in reading and writing, I had to work double but ultimately it has shown results. As a tip, I would tell the juniors that one should stick to the books provided by CBSE and not leave any topic as each topic is relevant in these exams,” he saidhttp://www.hindustantimes.com/education/visually-impaired-rakshit-malik-braves-all-odds-to-score-96-4-in-cbse-class-12/story-z1AQsqoL1TFqLqSS4FllnK.html