Twin brothers top district in Odisha Class X exam with identical scores

Perfect sync: The twin toppers from Malkangiri district
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Life often turns on the wheels of coincidence — and sometimes, fate writes such perfect symmetry that it feels like fiction.

Take Dambaru Lenka and Daniel Lenka, for instance. Born minutes apart, the twin brothers have always shared more than just a birthday. This year, they shared the spotlight too — both scoring a remarkable 560 out of 600 marks in the 2025 matriculation examination, emerging as joint toppers of Malkangiri, a southern Odisha district.

“Since childhood, they have lived together, cared for each other, and shared whatever little they had. As parents, we always hoped they would stay close. Perhaps the Almighty heard our prayers—both of them scored exactly the same marks and emerged as toppers in the High School Certificate examination in Malkangiri,” said Mohan Lenka, a primary school teacher and father of the twins.

Mr. Lenka said he was happy that securing the same marks would allow them to choose the same college and stay together, which eased his anxiety.

When the twins were born, their parents were anxious about their health. Influenced by a curious belief, they gave them names from different faiths—one Hindu and the other Christian. “However, we made sure that both names began with the same letter so they would sit together in class and during exams,” he said.

Daniel and his brother Dambaru scored surprisingly identical 93.33% in their matriculation exams—far beyond their expectations. “Since childhood, our marks were usually similar, though never exactly the same. Dambaru, who is slightly older, has always been better at science, while I enjoy mathematics more,” Daniel said.

This year, Malkangiri—the southernmost district of Odisha, bordering Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh—performed remarkably well in the annual matriculation examinations. The district rose from 25th to 17th place among Odisha’s 30 districts.

“We focused on mentoring students with the potential to excel in the Class X exams. In the first batch, we identified 76 such students, and later 210. School teachers were asked to spend extra time guiding them. As a result, 12 students from Malkangiri scored above 90% (A1 grade), including seven from government schools,” said Biswanath Sahu, former District Education Officer of Malkangiri, who played a key role in driving the district’s academic progress.

The results of the Class X board examinations were declared on Friday. This year, of the 519,728 students registered across all streams in Odisha: 510,925 appeared, and 491,912 passed— a pass percentage of 96.27%.

Among regular candidates, 1,812 students achieved the coveted A1 grade (above 90% marks), followed by 12,200 in A2 (above 80%), 38,831 in B1 (above 70%), and 84,971 in B2 (above 60%).