CBSE 12th result 2017: Topper Raksha Gopal got the good news from HRD minister

NEW DELHI: Unlike the lakhs of others, it was no less than a VIP telephone call that delivered the news of her performance in CBSE’s Class XII exams to Raksha Gopal on Sunday. As she was trying to log in and find out how she had done, a call came. At the other end was union human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar congratulating her for having topped the all-India toppers’ list.
“I freaked out,” recalled an elated Raksha later in the day.“The minister was very proud that someone from the humanities stream had left the others behind. When I told him I want to get a degree in political science, he welcomed me to the subject.”
She may have obtained 99.6%, but the 17-year-old chose to be modest, saying luck also played a part in her performance. But most others knew that she had toiled hard for her marks, including the maximums she got in English, political science and economics. Not surprisingly, her teachers at Noida’s Amity International School weren’t too surprised by her rank.
Monila Sarkar, Raksha’s class teacher, said they had identified the girl for her capability early enough and included her in the school’s ‘enrichment classes’. Another teacher, Debanjali Ganguly, the topper’s economics teacher, testified to the teenager’s enthusiasm for both academics and extracurricular activities. “She submitted her assignments regularly and was always in school for the enrichment classes, even as she participated in the school’s Model United Nations and edited the school newspaper,” said Ganguly.
But Raksha is a not nerd with her nose in the books all the time. She is a keyboard player with a Grade V certificate from Trinity College, London. “The keyboard helps me deal with stress at exam times too,” said the young Noida resident. She is also learning French, and recently completed a superior course from Alliance Francaise in Delhi and hopes to study another language, perhaps Spanish.
Her parents are obviously proud of their second daughter. Gopal Pallipuram Srinivasan, her father and chief financial officer of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, beamed, “Raksha has always been a diligent girl. Her greatest strength is how she manages time so systematically.” Their older daughter Prerna, who also studied in the same school, is currently doing a biochemistry course in DU’s Institute of Home Economics.
The 17-year-old is keen on a political science degree. So while admission into any college would be a cakewalk for her with her marks, she has her eyes on Delhi’s Lady Shri Ram, Miranda House and Jesus & Mary College as these institutions offer political science as a subject. Raksha’s practicality perhaps reflects the grounded upbringing she has had, exemplified by her mother, Ranjani Gopal, who quietly advised her daughter on her day of triumph: “Don't get carried away with the limelight. Stay focused on the future.”