Rising above financial hardship and personal adversity, Rupayan Chanda, a Class XII student of the science stream from Malbazar in Jalpaiguri district, has secured an outstanding 99.0019 per cent in the joint entrance examination (JEE mains).

Given his challenging background, Rupayan’s achievement is remarkable. Shukla Chanda, his mother, works as a domestic cook and also cares for patients at night to support the family.

Her tireless efforts and limited income have been the backbone of Rupayan’s upbringing after the untimely death of his father, Nimai Chanda, when the boy was just one-and-a-half years old.

Currently residing in a rented house in South Colony, in ward nine of Malbazar town, Rupayan has pursued his studies without any private tuitions.

“I relied entirely on free online resources such as Telegram, YouTube and Google to prepare for the exams,” he said.

A student of Mal Adarsha Vidyabhavan, Rupayan balanced his board exam preparation with JEE preparation, dedicating nearly 90 per cent of his time to the latter. His subject-wise scores reflect his strong academic command — 99.18 percentile in physics, 99.38 in math, and 98.88 in chemistry.

“Unlike most other students, I could not afford to take tuition. I had applied for a state government scholarship and bought a laptop, which eventually became my primary tool for learning. I had spent long hours in studies and could eventually come up with the score,” the boy added.

Passionate about cricket, Rupayan has temporarily set aside the sport to concentrate on his academic goals.

“I am now preparing for JEE Advanced and WBJEE, and my first preference is to study computer science engineering at IIT Roorkee. In the future, I want to pursue research in statistics,” he said.

His mother expressed pride and hope at her son’s results. “It seems my struggles for years are beginning to bear fruit. I am confident that he will achieve success in life,” said Shukla.