Eshan Singh with his parents in Shillong. A Telegraph picture

Shillong, June 9: Studying smart, not hard, is the key to success for this year’s topper of the Meghalaya Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examinations, the results of which were declared today.

Eshan Singh of St Anthony’s Higher Secondary School thanked God, his parents, teachers and the principal of the school for his success. “One month before the examinations, I concentrated only on studies to become the topper,” he said.

Eshan wants to pursue aeronautical engineering later on.

It was also a happy moment for St Anthony’s School, which produced a topper after 20 years.

The second position in SSLC went to Sourav Ghosh of MeSEB Secondary School from Sumer, in Ri Bhoi district.

From Garo Hills, Goutam Mandal of Sherwood Secondary School, Tura, secured the third position while Nabagata Roy of St Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Shillong, came fourth.

Another student of the same school, Anindita Das, secured the fifth position. She attributed her success to her teachers, parents and above all, God.

Of the 38,056 students who appeared in the SSLC examinations, 21,825 were successful.

The overall pass percentage is 57.35 per cent with 73.42 per cent being boys. Girls constituted 71.66 per cent of the overall pass percentage.

This years’ overall pass percentage is better than the previous years’, which was a mere 42.

Anisha Singha of St Margaret’s Higher Secondary School, Shillong, and Jesse James Rani from the Church of God (Ecclesia) Secondary School, Shillong, shared the sixth position. Barshasree Ajum of Sacred Heart Secondary School, Dalu, West Garo Hills, Md Momtazul Islam Tapadar of Laban Bengalee Boys Higher Secondary School, Shillong and Steffi R. Marak (private candidate) shared the seventh position.

The eighth position went to Suhani Dhar of St Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Shillong and Barida S. Shullai of RK Mission Higher Secondary School, Cherrapunji.

The ninth position was also shared by two candidates, Mustaque Ahmed of St Anthony’s Higher Secondary School, Shillong, and Brostar Wankhar of St Paul’s Higher Secondary School, Maribisu, East Khasi Hills.

Subhajit Bhowmick of Tura Town Higher Secondary School, Tura, Barikor Nongtraw of St. Mary’s College, Shillong and Azalika Achumi of Seven Set Annexe Higher Secondary School, Shillong were the top three rankers in the state Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate (HSSLC) arts stream, the results of which were also declared today.

Altogether 9,267 students passed out of the 17,269 who appeared.

Girls performed better than boys in the HSSLC results. The number of successful regular female candidates was 4,576 while the number of boys was 2,214.

Perfectstar Snaitang of Church of God (Ecclesia) Secondary School, Shillong, secured the 10th position.