The admission committee of the Lucknow University (LU) India had lately been wracking its brains over an exceptional case -
whether or not to induct a 10-year-old girl in its BSc course.
After some serious deliberation, the panel concluded that since Sushma
Verma had already cleared her matriculation and intermediate
examinations, she was entitled to study graduation courses.
Sushma's track record has been consistently stunning. She cleared class X
with 59 per cent marks from the UP Board in 2007, when she was only
seven. This year, she passed the intermediate exam with 62 per cent
marks from St Miraj Inter College.
Her admission to the LU was
initially withheld because of her age. However, she moved an application
before the committee, urging it to reconsider the decision because she
didn't want to waste a year and miss the academic session of 2010.
"There is no specific mention of the minimum age limit in the rule book
of the university. So, Sushma can be given admission," the committee
observed, responding to her plea.
According to university
spokesperson S.K. Dwivedi, the committee was of the unanimous opinion
that such students should be encouraged."While deciding Sushma's case,
we have reached the conclusion that such students who have cleared their
intermediate this year with good marks should be admitted for
graduation courses," Dwivedi said. "Their age shouldn't be a bar. In
fact, it is a proud moment for us to have a 10-year-old undergraduate
who is confident of excelling in life," he added.
Sushma's
achievement is all the more creditable because she comes from a family
which has limited means. Her father Tej Bahadur is a daily wager at the
school she completed her intermediate course from.
Sushma's
brother Shailendra Verma, too, is a child prodigy, having secured
admission in LU's Bachelor of Computer Applications course in 2009, when
he was only 14.
He, however, opted for a career in website
development. "My son is doing something extra- ordinary. Big companies
have hired him to tweak their websites," Shailendra's homemaker mother
Chhaya Verma said. "My daughter will take admission in the CMS Girl's
Degree College, which is affiliated to the LU. She has opted for
zoology, botany and chemistry," Bahadur. a class eight dropout, said.
"At the same time, she is preparing for medical entrance tests. Sushma
wants to become a doctor," he added.
Not only is Sushma a budding
talent, the wonder kid is grounded as well. "There is nothing
extraordinary about us. It is just that my brother and I take our
education seriously. This is because my father is a dropout and mother
unlettered. My dream is to open a hospital to treat poor people free of
cost," she said humbly.
St Miraj's principal Anita Ratra was full
of praise for her. " She is an excellent student with a special flair
for graphics. She secured a first division in her Class XII exams,"
Ratra said.
Previously:
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Youngest matriculate
Lucknow, June 5 A seven-and-a-half year-old city girl, daughter of a daily labourer, created a record today by becoming India’s youngest matriculate. Verma, who secured 58 marks in Hindi, 60 in English, 66 in maths, 63 in science, 68 in social science and 39 in computers, said she was happy for achieving the honour, but felt sad at the same time for failing to secure first division due to her poor performance in computers. The record for the youngest matriculate was held so far by Patna’s Tathagat Avatar Tulsi, who accomplished the feat when he was nine years of age. She appeared in the board examination amid media attention, which had worried her school, St. Meera’s Inter College, that her attention might get diverted, but she “excelled in the examinations as expected,” school manager Vinod Kumar said. Sushma had secured direct admission to Class IX last year, following permission given by the secondary education department. Before this she had studied at home. Her father Tej Bahadur Verma, a daily wage labourer, and mother Chhaya, a housewife, are happy at the rare feat. She is, however, not the only such genius in her family. Her brother Shailendra had passed Class XII at the age of 11 and cleared the Scholastic Assessment Test and Test of English as a foreign language. He secured admission to a US university but could not go owing to monetary problems. — PTI |
