Muslim boy tops UP Sanskrit Board’s Class 12 examination

Lucknow: Mohammad Irfan, the son of a farm labourer in Uttar Pradesh, has topped the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Sanskrit Shiksha Parishad Board’s Uttar Madhyama-II (class 12) exams with a score of 82.71 per cent.

Irfan, who dreams of becoming a Sanskrit teacher, is the only Muslim among the top 20 scorers in the classes 10 and 12 examinations.

Despite his family’s financial struggles, Irfan’s father got him admitted to Sampurnanand Sanskrit Government School, whose annual fee of Rs 400-500 was affordable.

Irfan’s father Salaluddin, who works as farm labourer, said that his son was always good in studies and began taking a keen interest in Sanskrit language from his first day at school. “Irfan had no help from anyone at home since no one in his family knew Sanskrit. He would seek his teachers’ help at school and would study at home for three to four hours daily,” he said.

He also emphasised that language should not be connected to religion and that people of any religion can excel in any language.

Salauddin said the family won’t stop Irfan from pursuing his dream. “In junior classes ‘Sanskrit’ was a compulsory subject and it was from there that he developed a liking for the language. He now plans to do Shastri (equivalent to BA) and Acharya (equivalent to MA) and will then look for a job as a Sanskrit teacher,” he said.