RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

For years, heavy rain­fall meant more than can­celled lessons at Debe Hin­du SDMS Pri­ma­ry School. Lo­cat­ed on a riv­er bank, stu­dents were ac­cus­tomed to mud­dy flood­wa­ters in­side their class­room, snakes and cen­tipedes slith­er­ing through the com­pound, and teach­ers, par­ents and vil­lagers rolling up their sleeves to clean be­fore chil­dren could re­turn to learn­ing.

It was in that en­vi­ron­ment that 11-year-old Shaz­ana Mo­hammed qui­et­ly built the de­ter­mi­na­tion that would even­tu­al­ly earn her first place na­tion­al­ly in the 2026 Sec­ondary En­trance As­sess­ment (SEA).