Chandigarh, Feb. 21 -- As thousands of Class 12 students across the country took their seats for the CBSE Physics board examination on Friday, 17-year-old Kanishka Bisht, a student living with muscular dystrophy since birth, showed extraordinary grit as she arrived at her examination centre in an ambulance directly from the intensive care unit (ICU), to take the exam.

Muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder that can cause progressive muscle weakness due to defective protein production.

Supported by oxygen cylinders and a medical team, Kanishka was wheeled into the Government Senior Secondary School, Modern Complex, in Sector 13, Manimajra.

On January 30, she had developed a severe fever and was later diagnosed with pneumonia. Her cond...