Patna: Kalpana Kumari, the Sheohar student who topped the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical and dental colleges across the country, has aced the Intermediate (Class XII) exam, the results of which were declared on Wednesday.
Kalpana, a student of Y.K.J.M College Tariyani in Sheohar, secured 434 marks out of 500 (86.8 per cent) in the science stream.
The top position for each stream (science, commerce and arts) was bagged by girls. Commerce topper Nidhi Sinha of RDS College Muzaffarpur, like Kalpana, secured 434 marks; Kusum Kumari of Simultala Awasiya Vidyalaya in Jamui aced the arts stream with 424 marks ( 84.8 per cent). The Jamui school had another roll of honour in Abhinav Adarsh, who ranked second in science with 421 marks.
In a boost for the board, of the 11.92 lakh students who took the test, 6.31 lakh - or 52.95 per cent - passed, up from the dismal 35.24 per cent recorded last year.
A total of 92,726 students secured first division; 4.3 lakh got second division and 99,395 passed with third division.
Kalpana took her Class X examination in 2016 from Navodaya Vidyalaya Sheohar with a CGPA of 10. Unlike other students who move to Delhi or Patna to prepare for medical or engineering entrance examinations, she joined YKJM College Tariyani in her hometown of Sheohar, around 125km north of Patna. However, she did take admission for special coaching for NEET at Aakash Institute, New Delhi. After her Intermediate exam, Kalpana took a series of tests from Aakash in Delhi over nearly three months.
It is her stint with Aakash in Delhi that prompted a section of academics to wonder if she was a "regular student" at the Sheohar college since she may not have the 75 per cent attendance as mandated by many institutions for appearing in the Intermediate exam. Asked about this, Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) chairman Anand Kishor said: "She is a genuine student of Y.K.J.M College, her registration and attendance sheet was provided by the school."
Board secretary Anup Kumar clarified that there was no clause of minimum attendance for appearance in the Intermediate exam. "BSEB has no rules of minimum attendance for Plus-2 students studying in government or government-aided schools," he said.
A.K.P. Yadav, a former BSEB chairman, concurred. "Attendance of 75 per cent is mandatory for availing of benefits of government schemes such as uniform, sanitary napkins and scholarship. But there are no rules under which a student can be stopped from appearing in the test due to attendance shortage," he said.
But academic sources said many schools, which include government institutions, have made 75 per cent attendance mandatory for appearing in the Class XII examination.
Attempts to contact Kalpana and her father Rakesh Mishra failed as their mobile phones were switched off. Mishra, assistant professor at the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) in Sheohar, had said on Monday - when the NEET results were declared - that his daughter took a series of tests at Aakash Institute in Delhi over nearly three months after her Class XII examination, which ended on February 16. The NEET exam was held on May 6.
Sources said the board, shaken by the topper scam that hit Bihar in 2016 and 2017, was much more cautious when declaring results. Board officials carried out physical verification of the toppers before declaring the results.
