In a merit list where 18 students occupy the top ten places with percentages ranging from 93.60 for the tenth position to 96 for the top spot, a percentage of 83.80 hardly stands a chance of getting noticed. But for Rangrez Saleya, the marks are nothing short of an achievement, considering the poverty and the numerous hardships she has encountered all along. Saleya has been living at the Sultan Ahmed Yatimkhana, an orphanage in the Walled City area since the age of nine and now the marks have brought her a step closer to her dream of becoming a doctor.

“I was nine years old when I came to this place. I had lost my father and we were in a very bad shape in the village. The trust adopted me and has supported me since then. I am a little disappointed with the marks though, a little more would have been better,” says Saleya.

However, Raiees Munshi, who runs the orphanage, is not at all disappointed. He says, “Her father was a cook at a madrasa. When he died there was absolutely nothing left for the family; she was almost orphaned. We brought her here and since then she has been an asset for us.”

Saleya's two brothers earn their living by selling wood at Dehala village near Dehgam in Ahmedabad district. But neither her mother nor her two brothers were aware of her result till late in the afternoon.

According to Munshi, it was an aptitude for learning, a love for the school and her seemingly tireless capacity for hard work that set her apart from the other children.

Munshi says, “Don't compare her to other children who have scored much more. Most of them have parents to ake care of every need of their children so that they can study more. Here it’s the result of her determination to study and the desire to achieve something in life. Whatever opportunity we gave her, she gave it her all.”

Thanks to the initiative of the All Sunni Community Wakf Trust, Saleya remains the only member of her family who has had proper education. Her mother did not go to school and her two brothers in the village have not studied much either.

Saleya, a student of the Vishwabharti School, Shahpur is one of the few girls in the orphanage to have done so well in the studies.