Siliguri, May 29: At a time when private tuition seems to be the success mantra for most students, Sridevi R. from Kendriya Vidyalaya Bengdubi strikes a different chord.

With 96.4 per cent, Sridevi has topped in her school and is one of the top scorers of this region in the CBSE’s Class X examinations, the results of which were declared today.

She did not have any private tutor, except in Sanskrit, and depended on teachers in school, her mother Veena and father Lt Col. K.N. Radhakrishnan.

“My father helped me in science (physics and chemistry) and my mother (who was once a teacher) in maths,” Sridevi said. “I had a teacher for Sanskrit as we did not have the subject teacher for Class X at school since only three students had taken up Sanskrit,” said the aspiring software engineer.

Sridevi resorted to late-night studies. “I love playing badminton and dancing,” said the Bharatnatyam student. “Classical dance is so stress-relieving that I took Bharatnatyam classes even in between my board exams,” she added.

School sources said 95 per cent of 113 students have passed from the institution.

Most schools of the region have reported an improvement in their performances. “The overall performance of our students is remarkably better,” said Parul Verma, the principal of Air Force School Bagdogra. “All the 66 students have passed, with 33 of them scoring above 60 per cent marks. Paras Bajaj has scored the highest of 95.5 per cent, followed by Preeti Man with 92.6 per cent,” she added.

Neha Bansal of Royal Academy, Matigara, has scored the school’s highest of 94.4 per cent. All 16 examinees from the school have passed.

Likewise, all 89 students from Delhi Public School, Siliguri, have passed with Paridhi Gupta scoring the highest marks of 93.2 per cent, followed by Swati Gupta with 92.2 per cent. “Four of our students have scored above 90 per cent, 20 in the 80s and 38 in the 70s,” principal S.P. Das said in a press release.

Prithvi Chayan Chatterjee of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sevoke Road, has got the highest in his school with 92.6 per cent. All 89 students of the school have passed.“From last year’s 91 per cent, our highest score has also gone up along with the overall performance, this year,” said principal Subrata Pal.

From BSF School, Kadamtala, Sameer Saurav Sen has got the highest of 92.4 per cent, followed by Shreya Verma with 91.6 per cent. “All 58 examinees have passed,” said Subhash Sahay, the principal of the school.

Prayag Sen of Army School Bengdubi has scored the school’s highest of 90.81 per cent. “Of the 93 examinees, 91 have passed this year,” principal Raveen Pandey said.