Girl with 'iron will' overcomes book handicap, triumphs without tuition
Times of India | 3 May 2024
SURI: She did not take any private tuition and did not even have all her text books in English despite studying at a govt English-medium school, but Puspita Basuri's "iron determination" helped her achieve academic excellence in Madhyamik. Puspita, a resident of Kamarpara, a remote village in Birbhum, has scored 691 out of 700 in the class X boards, bagging the third position in the state, and probably the first among girl candidates.
She was among the first batch of students at New Integrated Govt School, a govt-run English-medium school, to appear for Madhyamik examinations. She has scored 97 in Bengali, 99 in English, 98 in mathematics, 99 in physical science, 100 in life science, 98 in history and 100 in geography. "I love to study. I didn't have any private tutor but my parents, teachers at my school and some of the colleagues of my mother guided me whenever I required help. I would myself jot down notes from different books and my teachers corrected those. I didn't need private tuition because I attended school regularly," said Puspita, who wants to study engineering. "Not all the text books I had were in English though I appeared for my boards from an English-medium school. At times, I had to translate from Bengali books into English."
Puspita's mother is a para-teacher at a nearby school and her father is a private tutor. "My daughter has been studious since her very childhood. Whatever she has achieved is completely due to her willpower and perseverance. We wanted to provide her with private tuition, but she didn't want. The teachers at her school and some of my colleagues guided her whenever she needed help. The headmaster of her school also helped a lot," said Puspita's mother, Tanushri. Her father said, "We are not financially sound and we could not send her to any commercial coaching centre. But my daughter had iron determination."
Deepgopal Mukherjee, the headmaster at New Integrated Govt School in Belola village near Ilambazar, said, "Puspita has always been a sincere and meritorious student. She is among the first Madhyamik batch from our school."