A humanities student from BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar of Ludhiana, has bagged all-India rank 3rd in class 12, the results for which were declared by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Saturday. Astha Bamba secured 99.4 per cent, scoring 497 out of the toal 500 marks. She scored a perfect hundred in three subjects, sociology, mass media and political science. In English and economics, she scored 99 and 98, respectively. An avid reader and writer who wants to pursue journalism, Astha says that orthodox mindset of people in India regarding humanities stream also needed to change. She feels TV journalism in India “lacks ethics”. “I am happy getting an all-India rank but being a topper is just a label, and the only parameter to judge someone’s capabilities. There must be many students across the country who studied harder than me but could not score. I am happy with my score but the real challenge begins now,” she says. Read | CBSE Class XII results: Despite challenges, some students emerge as real 'toppers' in life Her parents, Adish Bamba and Seemaa Bamba, run a tuition centre for English and mathematics. Astha says her choice to pursue humanities came from her passion for writing, reading and studying English language. “I would give credit to my mother who always encouraged me to write and read since beginning. I write blogs and share my views on political happenings. I do not find them boring. I like to express myself on what is happening around. After graduation in English honours or political science, I may pursue journalism or become a chef. The long-term goal is to work for the United Nations,” she says. “I depend on newspapers and online news websites because television journalism in India is clearly lacking ethics. Their content clearly lacks credibility and ethics. So I have been following The Hindu, The Indian Express and some other websites,” she says. “Though I have scored a perfect 100 in mass media, I did not get to learn enough from the subject about intricacies of journalism. Our books were quite outdated. Mass media syllabus needs to be updated,” she says. Read | CBSE Class XII results: National-level footballer Kush scores 98.8% to top Chandigarh Tricity Astha took tuition classes for political science and economics. “I was disheartened when economics paper was re-conducted due to leak. I was appalled at the system, but then I still managed 98,” she says. Paramjit Kaur, principal BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, told The Indian Express said, “Certain stereotypes in minds of people for humanities stream should break after seeing these success stories. I am very proud of my students and our school has made humanities most sought after stream by offering subjects like mass media. Students should be given an opportunity to express themselves and choose what they like.”
