No phone? no problem. Without phone for online classes, J&K teen tops with 98% in class 10.

Udhampur’s teen without a phone for online classes defied odds to top his district with 98.06 per cent marks in the Class 10 results declared by the state education board.

Mandeep Singh said he could not go to school due to the lockdown last year and did not have a phone or computer for online classes. By sheer dedication and with some help from his family members and teachers, he not only studied well but also topped the examination.

The teen, who aspires to become a doctor, lives Amroh village. His father, Shyam Singh, is a farmer, where Mandeep also has to work sometimes. His mother, Sandhya Devi, is a homemaker.

“Besides studies, I also work in the field and help my parents in household chores,” he added.

The teen said he was grateful to his teachers at the government high school who gave him books to study.

Whatever more help he got was from his elder brother, who studied at the Jammu-based Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology but had returned home due to coronavirus restrictions. The teen says he now wants to clear the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) to be able to study medicine.

The boy also said that the government has taken a lot of initiative to promote education in far-flung areas and requested “to keep supporting poor students and help them in achieving their dreams”.

Speaking about his friends, he said they complained about the lockdown hampering their studies, which was a reasonable thing to say. However, he, instead of complaining about problems, focused on studying and worked really hard.