Chandigarh: In a one-of-its-kind morale booster for government school students, Chandigarh's education department has awarded laptops to two Class 12 toppers - one a student in a city government school and the other a rural school student.

Laptops have been awarded to Pankaj Kumar and Lakshay Manchanda, toppers in the government school category in village and city, respectively.

Lakshay was a student of Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS) in Sector-16 and scored 94.6 percent in the commerce stream in Class 12 and Pankaj Kumar, a student of Government Senior Secondary School, Mani Majra town, scored 88 percent in the vocational stream in Class 12.

"It came as a surprise to me when I came to know that the administration is awarding a laptop to me. I knew that I will secure good marks but I had never thought of topping in the entire city," said a jubilant Manchanda.

"I have taken admission in B.Com honours at Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) in New Delhi. Then, I will do an MBA from some top college of the country after gaining one-year work experience following graduation from the college," he said.

Kumar said: "It is just like a dream come true for me as I was badly in need of a computer but was not buying it because of its hefty price. Now I am determined to do more hard work and bring more laurels to the city. I owe my success to my parents and teachers."

There are over 100 government schools in Chandigarh which are sought after among students from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. The overall pass percentage of government schools here was 85.09 percent for Class 12 while the pass percentage of model schools for Class 10 was 88.95 percent in 2007-08.

"To my knowledge, it is for the first time that any government of this country has awarded the toppers of public schools with such a valuable prize as a laptop. Such a gesture of our education department will certainly encourage students to work harder," R.K. Sharma, principal of GMSSS-16, told IANS.