The toppers of the class 12 board exam may remain undisclosed in Tamil Nadu, but in Puzhal prison, jail authorities announce the top scorer across prisons, is from their premises.
With a score of 1064 out of 1200, reports the Times of India, Muthuselvan V is the highest scorer among all prisoners on Tamil Nadu. Muthuselvan, who is 29 years old, was remanded to Puzhal prison seven years ago after being convicted in a murder.
The second highest scorer among state prisoners, claim authorities, is 36-year-old Muthuramalingam. He is serving a life sentence in Palayamkottai Central Prison, while 22-year-old Senthil Kumar from Trichy Central Prison is third. But criminal history doesn't stop jail authorities from having expectations from their 'wards'.
“Muthuramalingam has scored 1057 marks. He came first in our prison even in the 10th standard exams,” says Senthamarai Kannan, SP of the Palayamkottai Central Prison. “He can now choose what degree he wants to do next. We have an MoU with a local university and the education will be free. This is a very important tool for reformation of these men and it will give them a chance to lead a normal life when they are back in regular society,” he adds.
Puzhal prison autbhorities, meanwhile, cannot stop gushing about the performance of their inmates. “Candidates from Puzhal did not top Class XII exams last year, so we wanted a No. 1 this year. Thanks to Muthuselvan we succeeded,” said Vinod Kumar, coordinator for the prison school in Puzhal, to ToI. "He is a brilliant student. In fact, he was among the high scorers in the Class X exams as well," he adds.
Muthuselvan reportedly works in the accounts office of the prison because he is good with number but his free time is spent studying and attending classes.
The Tamil Nadu State board results for Class 12 examinations was declared on Friday. The total pass percentage was 92.1%, a marginal increase of 0.7% from last year. A total of 8.93 lakh students had written the board exams this year.