Manish Kumar Mishra

Power cuts and economic constraints have failed to bog down Ara boy Manish Kumar Mishra, who scored 449 marks out of 500 in matriculation examination. The results were declared on Thursday.

Son of small-time businessman Brij Bhushan Mishra, Manish credited his parents for the success.

“I have seen my father and mother working hard to fulfil my needs. So many times, my father even had to borrow money from his friends and relatives for my education,” said Manish, a student of HNK High School, Ara.

Education minister Brishen Patel announced the results at the Bihar School Examination Board office on Fraser Road on Thursday. The board chairman, Rajmani Prasad Singh, was present.

Patel although said: “This year, the pass percentage in matriculation results is more compared to the last two years. The number of students securing first division is also more.”

Compared to last year, 45.66 per cent girls cleared the matriculation level against 54.33 per cent boys even though less number of students sat for the examination. Around 13.23 lakh students appeared in the matriculation examination year against last year’s 13.48 lakh students.

In 2013, the pass percentage of girls stood at 44.37 per cent, while that of the boys was 55.62 per cent.

As a whole, the pass percentage for the matriculation examination stood at 76.05 per cent. The same figures for 2013 and 2012 were 73.48 per cent and 71.03 per cent, respectively. Of the 13.23 lakh students, there were 7.19 lakh boys. As many as 14,816 students remained absent in the examination while 839 students were expelled.

Apart from Manish, the other high scorers of the day were Shalinee Roy, a student of Bhola Ray Navinjee High School in Subhai, Vaishali, with 486 marks. Nitesh Kumar from the high school in Bathnaha (Sitamarhi) and Manish Kumar from Catholic High School, Ara, were close to each other at 444 and 443 marks, respectively.

Manish Mishra, whose father runs a small tractor spare parts shop in Ara town, wants to become an IAS officer so that the infrastructure in villages improve.

From his Narayanpur village, Manish said: “There are frequent power cuts in my village and I had to face problems studying late at night. I made up for the lost time during the day. There are many hardworking students in the rural hinterlands, but poor facilities stop them from excelling.”

His younger brother is also a student at a govern-ment school.