The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : `Our teachers spared no effort to help us do well'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 28, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

`Our teachers spared no effort to help us do well'

By Our Staff Reporter

SHAKING HANDS OVER SUCCESS: Corporation school toppers, U. Saranya and A. Thameem Ansariya, congratulating each other on doing well in the S.S.L.C. examinations. — Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI, MAY 27. "It's not about boys or girls, it is about teachers," chorus the girls of the day from Saidapet Girls' Higher Secondary School, A. Thameem Ansariya and U. Saranya.

They dismiss the suggestion that girls may be better than boys when it comes to examinations. "It all depends on how good the teachers are," says bright-eyed Thameem. "Without teachers, there would be no doctors, no engineers, no lawyers," she notes.

Relaxing under the shade of a large tree on the school campus, the girls are still coming to grips with their success. And they are full of gratitude to God, their teachers and parents.

"Our teachers spared no effort to help us do well. They encouraged us, helped us with question banks, and patiently clarified our doubts. Every time," says Thameem, who wrote her exams even while suffering from a bout of typhoid.

"When you say `Corporation school' people assume that the quality of education is very poor," remarks U. Saranya. "But our school is excellent and the coaching is super...," she says her face shining with gratitude.

Saranya, the daughter of a tailor who works for an export company in Malaysia, dreams of being a heart specialist someday. And Thameem, the daughter of Abdullah, who repairs stoves, has her heart set on the Indian Administrative Service; but only after she studies medicine, or law. Her father approves. He firmly believes that people from ordinary backgrounds make excellent administrators because they know the problems of the people.

Saranya's mother, U. Bamini, did her best to provide a good study environment in their two-room apartment that is home to a family of eight. She made sure that one room was always available for Saranya to study.

For students as ambitious as Thameem and Saranya, coming first and second among the pool of Corporation school students in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate examination is a bitter-sweet victory. While Thameem's 488 out of 500 may be a dizzyingly high total, it is far from a perfect score, and it is still some points away from this year's state record of 495. And Saranya's hard-earned 482 is even further away. Having come this far, it is hard to not wish to have gone further and made the State record. But the fact that they still have class XII examinations ahead, another opportunity to break State records, is comforting.

Their advise to their juniors? "Read the whole textbook and not just selections. Don't mug - understand what you are reading." These wise ones certainly learnt their lessons well.

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