Palak Goel, who secured second position in CBSE Class XII board examination, wants to become an IAS officer, but at present her focus is to become an engineer and crack the IIT.
A student of Tagore Vanasthali Public School, Pehowa, near Kurukshetra in Haryana, she scored 496 out of 500 marks.
The third position was shared between Somy Uppal from St Theresa’s Convent School in Karnal and Ajish Sekar from PSBB Senior Secondary School, Chennai. They both scored 495 marks.
Speaking over phone, Palak Goel said: “I was confident of scoring 95 per cent. It was a bit of a surprise that I got 496 marks but I am very happy that my hard work paid off. I also want to become an IAS officer.”
Palak had non-medical subjects and she scored 100 per cent in physics, 99 per cent each in chemistry, mathematics, English and physical education, her mother Ranjana Goel said.
Palak’s mother is a housewife while her father Subhash Goel is a Commission Agent.
Sharing details about Palak, her mother said that she was a topper from nursery till Class 12.
“She used to study seriously but she also took time off for her favourite activities like making something out of waste material, cooking and dancing. Sometimes, I used to tell her that she was not devoting enough time for her studies, but my daughter always sounded confident that she would come out with flying colours,” Ms Goel said.
Kimti Lal Watta, the chairman of the school, said Palak is a bright student who always believed in in-depth studies and the school management has decided to honour her with a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh. -- PTI
