Juhi at her residence in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Hard work pays, financial constraints or not. That’s the way shown by Juhi, one of those who topped the Intermediate science examination, results of which were declared on Thursday, ahead of the apex court’s June 5 deadline.

Her family of seven members makes ends meet with little over Rs 15,000 a month that her parents earn. The Class XII student from Sir Ganesh Dutt Memorial College (SGDM), Patna, secured 420 marks out of 500. Juhi’s father Bimal Kumar Arya is the principal at the government’s unaided Mahant Hanuman Sharan College, Mainpura, while her mother is a contract teacher at a government school in Kurji area.

Her father’s monthly income is just Rs 8,000 and his wife earns Rs 7,000. The Aryas have to support two daughters, a son and Bimal’s elderly parents. To make ends meet, Bimal set up a coaching centre in Kurji area five years ago. He teaches chemistry there.

Not surprising then that his daughter Juhi attributes her success to her family and hard work. She told The Telegraph: “My parents always motivated me to achieve big in life.”

Juhi’s elder sister is a final-year student at National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Mumbai, while her younger brother is a student at Loyola School, Patna.

Juhi dreams to be an engineer. She failed to clear this year’s IIT-JEE main exam, her father laments, but Juhi herself is sure her hard work will help her realise her dreams.

Girls have reason to cheer this year. Nine of the 20 students in the top 10 of intermediate science exam results are girls.

Intermediate results were declared before matriculation results following a Supreme Court directive asking for early results so that those eyeing professional courses don’t miss the bus waiting for their results.

For this, the Bihar School Examination Board conducted the intermediate exam before the matriculation exam.

Board sources said the apex court and ministry of human resource development department had given directives to declare the results, including revaluation of board examinations, before June 5.

BSEB secretary Lalan Jha said: “This year, around 3.62 lakh students appeared for the Intermediate science examination and 3.32 lakh of them cleared it.”

The pass percentage in Intermediate science examination was 91.87, while 51.22 per cent secured first division. The number of students who took this year’s Intermediate (science) exam was 20,000 more than last year. The examination was held in February.

Another topper, Raushan Kumar from MRJD College, Begusarai district, secured 417 marks. Varshaa from VR College Kiratpur Bhagwanpur College, Vaishali, and Shekhar Suman from BM College, Kharagpur Munger, secured 416 marks each.