UP farmer's son who scored 98.2% in Class XII set to join top US university

Lakhimpur Kheri (UP): The son of a farmer in a remote Uttar Pradesh village has scored 98.2 per cent in his Class 12 examinations which has paved the way for his admission to a prestigious Ivy League University in the US on full scholarship.

Anurag Tiwari, who belongs to Sarasan village in Lakhimpur district, said he has got selected to Cornell University where he would be pursuing higher studies in Economics.

The 18-year-old humanities student scored 95 marks in Mathematics, 97 in English, 99 in Political Science, and a full 100 both in History and Economics, as per the exam results announced by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday.

The outstanding Class 12 results just paved the way for the Cornell Dream of the boy, who scored 1,370 marks in his Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), widely used for admissions to major colleges in the US, in December 2019.

But the journey so far has not been easy, said Anurag, who had to move to a residential school in Sitapur district for education, as he cited the weak financial condition of his family that includes parents Kamalpati Tewari and Sangeeta Tewari and three elder sisters, one of them now married.

My parents were initially reluctant to send me to Sitapur. My father is a farmer and mother a home-maker. They thought if I go away for studies, I may not return to farming. But my sisters convinced them to allow me to study, Anurag, who studied at the VidyaGyan Leadership Academy, run by the Shiv Nadar Foundation in Sitapur, said.

Now they are all happy and proud of me, the village lad said in fluent English.