As the KEAM entrance examination results were announced, P. Devanand, a native of Alappuzha, topped the State with an impressive score of 591.61 out of 600.
Speaking to The Hindu, Devanand expressed his delight at securing the first rank. “While I expected to bag one of the top ranks, I was pleasantly surprised to secure the first rank,” he said. However, he added that his goal was to join one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). “Having successfully cleared the JEE, I have already joined IIT Kharagpur for Mechanical Engineering,” he said, adding that he is yet to decide on a career path after engineering.
As a student of Placid Vidyavihar Higher Secondary School in Changanassery, Devanand attended an integrated coaching programme. “I put in a lot of hard work, including writing mock tests and solving previous years’ question papers, which helped me finish at the top,” he explained.
A native of Chandanakkavu in Alappuzha, Devanand is the elder son of Padmakumar P., a research officer with the Economic and Statistics Department in Pathanamthitta, and Manju P. R., a chemistry teacher at NSS Higher Secondary School at Thadiyoor, Pathanamthitta. His younger brother is a Class 9 student.
