Ayesha Singh of New Stewart School, Cuttack, with her family. (Below) Subhasish Sahu of Stewart School, Bhubaneswar, with his father. Pictures: Badrika Nath Das and Telegraph

Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, May 17: Civili Nanda, Class X student of St Joseph High School, held her breath as she typed her index number on the website of Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE).

A minute later, she was over the moon when her score flashed on the computer screen — 97.5 per cent.

The 15-year-old said: “Today is a very special day for me. I called up my friends and relatives to share this news.”

Similar were the reactions of many other students in the twin cities who bagged impressive marks in the ICSE and the Indian School Certificate (ISC) examinations for Class X and Class XII, respectively, as the results were announced today at 3pm.

“I was expecting around 94 per cent to 95 per cent. I had put in around 10 to 12 hours of study everyday. I am glad my hard work has paid off,” said Rajdeep Mishra, a student of Stewart School, Bhubaneswar, who scored exactly 95 per cent in ICSE.

Aspiring to become a computer engineer, Rajdeep credited his parents, teachers and principal for his success, and said he would continue his studies at Stewart.

Subhasish Sahoo, another student of Stewart School, who scored 85 per cent marks in ISC, said: “My hard work has paid off. My seniors helped me with exam preparations and our principal has been the main source of inspiration.”

Now, Subhasish is aiming to crack the Special Class Railway Apprenticeship (SCRA) exams conducted by the Indian Railways.

R.R. Senapati, principal of Stewart School, said the students had lived up to her expectations.

“Out of the 138 students who appeared for the Class X exams, 20 have scored above 90 per cent marks. We are now marching towards academic excellence coupled with character building.

“We would felicitate the meritorious students in a grand way,” said Senapati.

Apart from them, some of the other students in the capital who secured over 90 per cent marks in ICSE are Rupak Mishra of Ruchika High School with 96 per cent marks and Suraj Rout of Venkateswar English Medium School with 94 per cent marks. In ISC, St Joseph High School’s Surbhi Saxena bagged 73.5 per cent marks.

In Cuttack, Ayesha Singh of New Stewart School, who scored 96.57 marks in ICSE, said: “It is a great moment for me. My family has always been an inspiration for me. My father was moved to tears when he had heard about my results.” Ayesha dreams of becoming a doctor in future.

A total of 80 students had appeared for the Class X exams from the New Stewart School. Jaydev Sahu of the same school scored 96.14 per cent marks and Sarthak Mohapatra got 94.08 per cent marks.

“It is a historic result for our school as all the top 10 students have secured above 90 per cent marks that reflects the quality of education that is being imparted to the students,” said New Stewart School principal F.C. North.

Other leading English medium schools of Cuttack, including Cambridge, Stewart School, St Joseph, St Xaviers and S.C.B. Medical Public School, have also recorded good results.

Jugal Mohapatra of Stewart, Cuttack, has scored 96.42 per cent while Atamaya Tripathy of St Joseph has secured 95.8 per cent marks. From S.C.B. Medical Public School, Amartya Majumdar and Ashutosh Panda have secured 95.05 per cent and 95.14 per cent marks, respectively.

Other students, who have scored high marks, are Cambridge School students Ani Pritam (95.02 per cent), Binay Chodhary and Mohan Sarsi (both 94.04 per cent).