100 commitment day after day, year after year

Ever heard of a student who never missed a single class in over a decade of studies in school or college! Meet 22-year-old Jai Lata who has set a record of sorts by regularly attending school for seven years from Class VI to Class XII and then three years of graduation.

Ever heard of a student who never missed a single class in over a decade of studies in school or college! Meet 22-year-old Jai Lata who has set a record of sorts by regularly attending school for seven years from Class VI to Class XII and then three years of graduation.

It was in 1998 that Jai Lata first registered 100 per cent attendance while she was studying in Class VI. Ever since, she has not only been regular in her school, she has also been securing the first position in her class.

Presently pursuing her post-graduate diploma in computer application from Teja Singh Sutantar Memorial College in Shimlapuri, she finished her schooling from Teja Singh Sutantar Memorial Senior Secondary School run by the same education trust and later opted for commerce to pursue graduation.

8220;I know it is an achievement but it has happened without any plan,8221; she says, adding, 8220;All these years, the school and college authorities kept me motivated by felicitating me with a 8216;Hundred Percent Attendance8217; trophy every year.8221;nbsp;

Lata8217;s cent per cent attendance and the accolades she has won over the years has not only inspired her younger sister who has been emulating her for nine years now, nearly 153 students in the school and 13 students in the college followed in her footsteps in the last academic session and were honoured for not missing a single day at school. Of them, five students have been getting 100 per cent attendance for five years in a row.

8220;Lata has inspired all of us. When I would see her come home with a trophy, I became more and more determined to emulate her,8221; says Anjali, Lata8217;s younger sister studying in the same college. Lata says that her sister has been so determined to attend classes regularly that when she had taken ill recently and was advised rest for a week, she showed up in the college the very next day.

However, everyone who has heard about Jai Lata8217;s commitment asked her if she had neither fallen ill in all these years nor attended any family dos. 8220;I have been keeping healthy enough to attend school and as for family functions, I have many a time faced the wrath of my relatives. But my parents have been supportive enough and have never stopped me from going to the school and now college,8221; she smiles.

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Jai Lata was once asked to drop the school due to poor financial health of the family. 8220;But that was the year when I stood first in my class for the first time and then my parents decided not to compel me to leave the school.8221;

8220;There is a champion in each one of us. We only need to recognise our strength. Though there may be times when things do not shape up the way you want it, one should never leave hope because it is hope that sustains dreams. I wanted to do an MBA but had to drop the idea for want of more money. But now I have decided to make my career in computer application.8221;