Young achievers

Two young Parsi girls, Daisy Rustomjee of Calcutta and Zenia Tangri of Bombay, received the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Award from the University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) this year. The CIE is an international board for school education which organizes exams across 160 countries with 1.4 million students appearing for them in June 2010. Two levels of exams are conducted: International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) equivalent to Std X and Advance Subsidiary (AS), as per information available on the Internet. In India 20,000 students from 250 schools appeared for the exams and 104 of them received the Cambridge Outstanding Learner Award, the website mentions.

Rustomjee, who studied at the DPS International Saket school in New Delhi, secured all ‘A’ stars in her IGCSE (V level), standing second in all India rankings. Thereafter, she got triple ‘A’s in accounts, economics and mathematics at the higher A levels from Cambridge University, ranking second in India and declared "Top in India across three Cambridge International A levels, November 2009.” She was presented the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Award in September 2010, her father informed Parsiana in an e-mail forwarded by Sam Medora of Calcutta.

(From left): Zenia Tangri, Daisy and Ardesh Rustomjee

Daughter of Dr Kamal and Rusi, Rustomjee has always excelled in the academic field. Her hobbies include basketball, horse riding, karate and playing the piano. She received scholarship offers from Warwick University, UK and the Singapore Management University for undergraduate studies and has opted for the latter, working toward a double degree in economics and business administration, the e-mail notes. Her father encouraged her to study further through merit earned scholarships, which she has now done.

The e-mail also mentions that Rustomjee’s brother Ardesh achieved an ‘A’ in economics at the A level and is at present studying at Symbiosis College in Poona in the third year Bachelor of Business Administration course. At the age of 10 he had represented India at the International Karate Tournament in Bali in 1999. He has to his credit certificates of merit for horse riding at the national level. An all-rounder, Ardesh wants to do his postgraduate studies at a prestigious university in India or abroad after he completes his compulsory two years’ work experience requirement.

At the Cambridge IGCSE board examinations in June 2010 Tangri, of the Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Bombay secured ‘A’s in all the nine subjects she appeared for, topping the world in Hindi as a second language (97 percent), and coming first in India (96 percent) in Coordinated Sciences (double award), as per information and certificates sent by e-mail to Parsiana by her mother, Mahrookh. For this remarkable performance, Tangri was given the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Award, India.