WEST BENGAL :

Calcutta:

One fought marriage, another gave up on buddy time and a third doesn’t want to burden his father. All three shone in the Higher Secondary results.

Metro tells their spirited stories

Rehana Khatoon, 83 per cent

Namkhana Union High School

Rehana Khatoon would have been married off after her Madhyamik had it not been for her headmaster’s intervention.

She has scored 83 per cent in her Higher Secondary aggregate.

Her father, a tailor and a part-time wood-cutter, has had to spend all his savings on getting his two elder daughters married and could ill afford the education of the youngest.

“We convinced the family that Rehana could get Rs 25,000 as assistance if she completed her Higher Secondary and took admission in a college under the state government’s Kanyashree-2 scheme. They relented,” said Alok Maity, the headmaster of Rehana’s school.

Rehana’s father, Taiyab Ali, spends the week working as a tailor in Howrah and goes to Namkhana on weekends to cut wood. “I earn just about Rs 4,000 a month,” he said.

Rehana herself teaches kids to raise money. “I earn Rs 1,000 a month which I use to pay my fees and buy books,” she said.

Rehana is unsure if she can go to college. “I don’t know if my father can bear the expenses. I want to take up nursing and midwifery,” she said.

Swarupa Dhar, 91.6 per cent

Ghoshpara Nischinda Balika Vidyapith

She did not go out with friends for movies and did not own a smart phone till two days ago. But none of it bothered Swarupa Dhar as she did not want to financially burden her father, who works at a sari shop in Burrabazar and earns about Rs 6,000 a month.

Swarupa’s score of 91.6 per cent in the Higher Secondary exams is a reward for her father Subhas Dhar, who had to drop out of college but wants his daughter to study.

“I do not want or expect things to change drastically from here because if I start getting what I am not used to, my focus might shift. All I want is to complete my studies,” said Swarupa who topped her school and wants to pursue accountancy.

The 17-year-old has always had few demands. “It was only recently that she had wanted a smartphone because she will now go to college,” mother Rita said.