Want to study in Harvard, make weapons for forces: GSEB Class X highest scorer Shashwat

Read | Gujarat Board SSC result 2019 declared@gseb.org: 5,51,023 students pass

The 84-year-old was the happiest of all family members after the results were declared on Tuesday. “I got married in 1950 when I was just 16 years old and in Class VI. Then I had to leave studies. But, I did not give up and appeared for my inter exams externally in 1962 at the age of 27. At that time, my elder son was about three years old. Despite all these hardships, I topped the exam then and today my grandson has achieved the same feat,” said Jayaben, a retired clerk in Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s tax department.

In addition to the legacy of toppers, the Upadhyay family has maintained another tradition of pursuing secondary studies in mother tongue.

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“It was our conscious decision to make him study in a Gujarati-medium school. We take great pride in that. I believe everybody should educate their wards in the mother tongue so that they know their roots. In future, you can always move to English,” said his uncle Atul Upadhyay.

Asked if he found any subject tough, Shashwat said, “There is no easy or hard subject. We just need to put efforts.”

Vedant Vyas of H B Kapadiya New High School in Memnagar closely follows Shashwat with a score of 96.17 per cent.

He has scored 99 in maths and Sanskrit and aspires to be an IIT professor.

He said he is not on social media, but likes to play games on mobile phone.

Vaishnavi Dave of Little Flower school secured 96 per cent and wants to pursue computer science from IIT. She wants be an IT professional and work for companies like Google and Microsoft.

(Shashank Raj and Suresh Chaudhary are interns with The Indian Express, Ahmedabad)