Fifteen-year-old headboy and topper from Bombay’s City International School, Aaryan Jogina is modest about the 98% that he achieved at the class 10 Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) board exams. "Luck plays a role too,” he told Parsiana on July 24, 2020, a fortnight after the results were declared. After completing six papers, examinations were suspended due to the Covid-19-induced lockdown. Students were judged on the basis of their classroom performance in the remaining four subjects. "I had done well in those subjects...but I had given my fullest to each and every subject throughout the year,” said the lad, who scored 100% in mathematics, social studies and computer applications. "He was the only student in his school to have scored 100% in maths,” revealed proud dad Cyrus. With high scores in Hindi (99%), Science (97), and English (91), Aaryan is currently studying at the Jamnabai Narsee School (JNS).
Aaryan with parents Cyrus and Sampada
He misses the atmosphere of a "real” classroom when participating in online learning since April this year. Lessons are pre-recorded. "There is no way I can reach out to teachers...There were no text books till two weeks ago,” he said, looking forward to "really live” classes when JNS moves to an interactive platform for teaching.
In five years "I want to be doing something to change the way we see the world,” said the lad. "It could be in the realm of astrophysics or anything else that I am attracted to then,” he signed off.