Bhubaneswar, May 25: She loves to hangout with friends and spends most of her time trying new apps on her father's mobile while her parents kept nagging to devote more time towards studies.

But, little had they expected that their daughter would come out as the topper of her school.

The Central Board of Secondary Examination results that were published finally relieved Monalisa Majhi's parents of their tensions. A Kendriya Vidyalaya I student, the tribal girl passed the examination with 96 per cent marks in science stream.

Like Monalisa, a number of tribal students from various districts of the state, too, scored high marks in the examination.

"We were quite worried about her. She was quite sharp, but we hardly saw her studying. Either she used to be hooked on the phone or busy chatting with friends. Frankly, we had never expected that she would score such high marks," said her father Dharanidhar Majhi.

But Monalisa admits of devoting around seven hours to her academics. Hailing from a humble background where her father is a central government employee and mother a home-maker, the girl has managed to come out with great marks.

"I was never apprehensive about belonging to a tribal community. Although people around me at times made me uncomfortable with their remarks, I kept myself strong throughout," said the girl with a smile on her face.

She wants to pursue her career as a doctor. "I have appeared for a few competitive examinations and am hopeful of getting admission into government college," Monalisa said. The 17-year-old hails from a remote village in Kendrapada.

The first thing that she wishes to do after her admission process is over is to visit her native village. "I want to visit my roots and experience the simple lifestyle there. I would go there and talk to the girl students in the area about the importance of education," said the student.

In another development, two tribal students from the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) of Koraput have passed the examination with over 80 per cent marks from the arts stream. From no electricity to lack of proper guidance, the boys have battled against every hurdle that came in their way. Jagannath Nayak has secured 87.4 per cent and Bisham Ghatual 81 per cent.

"Most of the time, there is no power at our home, and we had very limited access to the online media. That apart, we did not always get proper guidance on which reference books to follow or about the question patterns expected in the examination. I just made it a point to understand my subject properly," said Jagannath.

Both the students aspire to join the civil services in the future. "I want to give my family a good life, and civil services is one of the most prestigious jobs in the country. I also want to develop my community, so that the upcoming generations have better access to education and facilities. I will begin my preparation from now and attempt for the exam after my graduation," said Bisham.

In another remote school in the state, Kendriya Vidyalaya at Malkangiri, most of the students, who appeared the examination, scored over 60 per cent marks.

"Pondering on the low literacy rate in the district, the results are quite satisfying. We are constantly trying to make sure that the students receive good facilities and pass with good marks," said vice principal of the school, V.P. Ram. "We must give the students a pat on the back since we do not have enough teachers as the qualified persons from cities do not wish to work in this remote area. It is even difficult to convince children to pursue education here," he said.

♦ Total students who took the exam: 48881
♦ Total passed: 39597
♦ Pass percentage: 81 per cent
♦ Best performing school: Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas with 97.94 per cent
♦ Highest scorer in science stream: Namrata Mohanty, DAV Public School Unit VIII, Bhubaneswar and Deep 
    Bhattacharya from DPS Ruby Park, Calcutta (both score 98.60 per cent)
♦ Highest scorer in commerce: Ayush Agrawal, Apeejay School, Calcutta (97.6 per cent)
♦ Highest scorer in arts: Ankita Ghoshal of BDM International School, Calcutta (96.6 per cent)

Top scorers

♦ DAV Public School Unit-VIII 
Namrata Mohanty from DAV Public School, Unit-VIII, scores highest (98.60 per cent) in 
science in the region. Adyasha Mishra secures highest score (97 per cent) followed by Sonali Sukanya Pallai (96.40 per cent) and Deepanshu Agarwal (96.20 per cent). As many as 21 students secure more than 90 per cent
♦ DAV Public School
Pokhariput Abhishek Sahoo heads the list (98.40 per cent) in science. Asitava Sarkar and Ramakanta Mohanty secure 96.20 per cent and 96 per cent, respectively. Jyotisnata Swain and Mohit Kumar Sundarka jointly become school toppers in commerce with 92.40 per cent marks, whereas Swastik Paty (90.60 per cent) and Anshuman Sahoo (90.40 per cent) get second and third positions respectively
♦ Mother’s Public School
Topper Sarthak Bharadwaj scores 97 per cent in science and Aseema Routray comes second with 96.6 per cent marks. In commerce, Arindum Nayak scores highest (96 per cent) followed by Sonali Shah (94.4 per cent) and Neha Sonthalia (93.8 per cent). As many as 225 science students and eight commerce students score 90 per cent and above
♦ DAV Public School Chandrashekharpur
Topper in science is Kasturi Panda (96.4 per cent), while Amarjyoti Nayak secures 96.2 per cent. In commerce, topper is Pratiksha Mohanty (95.2 per cent). As many as 22 students score more than 95 per cent
♦ DPS Kalinga 
Tanisha Mishra (97.2 per cent) stands first in commerce. Humanities topper is Bidisha Mohapatra (97 per cent). Both Ankita Chopdar and Shrohan Mohapatra become toppers in science (95 per cent)
♦ SAI International School
Ishani Das and Raghav Kothari secure 97.4 per cent in commerce. School average in commerce was 87.7 per cent and 97 per cent of students secure more than 75 per cent marks, while 50 per cent students score above 90 per cent
♦ KIIT International School 
All students of three streams at KiiT International School (KiiT-IS) pass in first class. Students of science and humanities streams score 96 pass percentage, while commerce students secure 95 per cent