Parents and students check the results at Siliguri Girls? High School. Picture by Diptendu Dutta

May 31: The first three positions in the Madhyamik examination results from north Bengal have gone to boys, according to the latest information available. The overall result of the region has been good, reports from the six districts indicate.

Sajib Sarkar of Sri Ramakrishna Vidya Bhavan, Raiganj, hit a magnificent 779 out of 800, which propelled the avid cricket fan to the top of the region?s rankings. Arunava Chakraborty of NTPC High School, Khejuria in Malda, with 774 marks stood second, while Soumen Das of Vivekananda Vidya Mandir, also from Malda, secured third position in the region.

The overall performance of the schools this year was reasonably good, with Malda district faring particularly well. On the flip side, South Dinajpur was not quite up to the mark.

In the absence of any information on results from the West Bengal Board for Secondary Education?s regional office here, a clear picture of north Bengal?s status will take a few days .

In North Dinajpur, Sajib Sarkar, the north Bengal topper has secured ?letter? (above 80 per cent) marks in all subjects. Son of a timber merchant, the 15-year-old boy wants to move to Calcutta for higher studies and eventually become a doctor.

?I want to acknowledge the role played by my teachers and my uncle, besides, of course, the blessings of my parents,? said Sajib, who used to put in 5-6 hours of studies every day.

Siliguri Girls? High School student Oindrila Deb topped the examination in Darjeeling district with 761 marks. Crediting her success to her parents and teachers, Oindrila said she would take up science. The performances of schools in Siliguri were better than that of the hill-based institutions.

In Cooch Behar, all the major schools fared very well with NNM High School in Toofanganj achieving cent per cent success.

Other than district topper Arunava Chakraborty (774), Malda is also proud of the next four ?scorers? in the region, all from Vivekananda Vidyamandir.

In Jalpaiguri, Anirban Sinha, a student of Fanindra Deb Institution, has topped the district with a score of 766.

The best score (746) in South has been of Kasturi Kabiraj?s of Balurghat Girls' High School. Among the boys, Kushal Karmakar of Balurghat High School has got the highest with 743.