Mita Mukherjee

Sristi Jaiswal and Procheta Bhattacharya have scored more than 90 percent marks in aggregate in the ICSE (Class X) 2022 exams and their marks sheets show how well they had studied each subject before they wrote the exam.

But what the marks don’t tell is how they have braved the insurmountable odds to win the test of their life and career.

EducationWorld highlights their torments and hard work to achieve success and how they are outstanding performers though their names don’t feature  in the merit list.

Sristi Jaiswal, Welland Gouldsmith School Kolkata

In September 2021 Sristi had gone to visit her maternal grandparents to Varanasi from Kolkata. After a few days of her stay there she complained of fever and back pain. After a detailed investigation, the doctors detected that she was suffering from an infection in spinal cord and she would need immediate hospitalization.

She was immediately admitted to a hospital at Varanasi as prolonged treatment was required  to recover from the disease.

Sristi, still undergoing treatment, was in the hospital till a few weeks ago and wrote the ICSE semester 1 and semester 2 exams from the hospital.

She scored 92.4 per cent and obtained high marks in all the subjects.

“ I was absolutely fine when I left Kolkata  in September. I suddenly had a fever. I was admitted to hospital and the semester 1 exam was conducted in November. I could not move from bed. The doctors said, complete bed rest was the most important part of the treatment of this disease and so there was no way I could be discharged from the hospital to return to Kolkata for writing the exams,” said Sristi.

Sristi was determined to write the semester 1 exams from the hospital. The doctors allowed her to do so but on condition she would have to write the papers lying on the hospital bed.

“ The treatment was quite rigorous. It was difficult studying lying on the bed all the time. Also because of the tremendous pain and discomfort I was experiencing.  But I was determined to crack the test. So I would study whenever I would feel a little better. I am grateful to my school, council and the hospital for giving me all the support I needed to continue my studies,”  Sristi told EducationWorld.  

All arrangements were made by the Welland Gouldsmith School and the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) for Sristi for writing the exam.

Semester 1 results got declared, Sristi performed well. Then she started preparing herself for the semester 2 exams.  Her family wished nothing other than her recovery but doctors advised that she would have to be in the hospital for some more months. She finally had to write the semester 2 exams again in the hospital lying in bed.

Sristi is now discharged from hospital but still undergoing treatment at Varanasi .

She wants to become an IAS officer and so she doesn’t want to miss a year. She has taken admission to a local school in Class  XI. As she still needs bed rest a special arrangement has been made by the school  so that she can attend the classes online.

Procheta Bhattacharjee, Future Foundation School, Kolkata

Procheta, like all other students, had missed physical classes due to the pandemic. It was difficult making up for the loss and Procheta was trying her best to crack the test with high marks.

A few weeks were left for the ICSE semester 2 exams to start. Procheta, came to know from her parents that she will have to donate stem cells for treatment of her elder sister who is suffering from leukemia.

Hardly a couple of weeks before the exam, Procheta had to be administered an injection for five days so that she could donate the stem cells.  She had to be admitted to hospital for a few hours on the day of the collection of the stem cells.

Very little time was left for the preparations but Procheta could hardly study because of some immediate side-effects of the injection.

“ I had fever and pain all over my body. I could hardly study at that time. This continued for seven days. I was feeling scared as the exams were drawing near and I could not study. At the same time I was worried about my sister’s health,” Procheta told EducationWorld.

Procheta has scored 90.2 in ICSE .