'Want to be Shastri, Acharya...' Muslim student in UP tops Sanskrit board exam with 83%

Lucknow: A 17-year-old Irfan has become his father's pride after bagging 82.17% in Sanskrit and topping the Uttar Madhyama-II (Class 12) Madhyamik Sanskrit Shiksha Parishad merit list.

Hailing from UP's Chandauli district, Irfan aspires to teach Sanskrit one day and is the only Muslim among the top 20 scorers in Class 10 and Class 12 exams.

“He started studying Sanskrit in junior classes when it was a compulsory subject. It was his choice to opt for it in class 12th, so I encouraged him,” said Irfan's proud father, Salauddin, while talking to The New Indian Express

“Irfan wants to do Shastri (equivalent to B.Ed) and Acharya (equivalent to MA) and then wants to become a Sanskrit teacher,” added Salauddin.

According to media reports, Irfan, a student at Sri Sampurnanand Vidyalaya comes from a devout Muslim family. His father states that Irfan has always wanted to become a Sanskrit expert and teacher.

Talking to TNIE, Salauddin further expressed that he and his family never pushed Irfan to study. “He did not get any help from home because none of us knows Sanskrit. He would seek his teachers’ help in school and would study at home for 3-4 hours daily,” said Salauddin.

Irfan outperformed 13,738 other pupils who took the Class 12 exams. The student beat Shivdayal Gupta of Gangotri Devi Vidyalaya in Ballia and Vikas Yadav of Sri Ram Tahal Vidyalaya in Pratapgarh who bagged the second and third place, with 80.57% and 80.35% marks, respectively.

The results of Uttar Madhyama-II (Class 12) and Purva Madhyama-II (Class 10) results were announced in UP on Wednesday. The examinations were conducted from February 23 through March 20.