A neighbourhood in Lalpur village of Mathurapur hasn’t stopped celebrating ever since the Higher Secondary results were announced on Monday morning.

Mijanur Peyada, 19, is not just the first student of his school to score 90 per cent in HS but also the first from Peyadapara, a neighbourhood of 100-odd families who make a living as daily wagers, fishermen or farmers, to achieve the feat.

Son of a hawker who goes door to door in Sonarpur and Baruipur selling ayurvedic medicines that he sources from Burrabazar, Mijanur scored 86 per cent in Madhyamik and won a scholarship to study further and a free hostel seat.

“I have four sons and a daughter. It is difficult to make ends meet. I cannot fulfil my children’s demands and needs. We live in extreme poverty. We have managed so far because Mijanur has been able to get help from his school and also from scholarships,” said father Abdul Menan Peyada, who earns around Rs 5,000 to 7,000 a month and lives in a house with a tiled roof and tarpaulin cover in places to mend leaks during the monsoon.

Mijanur notched up 90.2 per cent in HS with 100 in maths, 90 in physics and biological sciences, 88 in chemistry, 83 in English and 82 in Bengali.

The headmaster of Krishnachandrapur High School can’t praise his student enough. “He comes from a backward locality where many are first-generation learners and have superstitious beliefs. I had to remove him from such a background and keep him in hostel so that he could concentrate on his studies,” headmaster Chandan Maity said.

Mijanur is grateful to “head sir” and knows “high scores” are the only way out of poverty for him.

“I am dependent on my marks alone. If I don’t score good marks, I will not be eligible for scholarships and won’t be able to continue my studies,” said the boy who wants to be a doctor and has appeared for the National Entrance Cum Eligibility Test (NEET).