In a country where more
than 35 per cent of girls are discouraged from studying and going to school,
young prodigy Sushma Verma from Lucknow has a different story to tell! At age 7
when most of us were barely able to dedicate 30 minutes to studying, Sushma had
already completed her 10th. At the young age of 13, she had enrolled herself in
college and was getting her Master’s Degree in Microbiology from Lucknow
University.
And now, at the age of
15, she has achieved yet another milestone by becoming the youngest Indian to
have been enrolled as a PhD student at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University
(BBAU) in Lucknow—a course where her classmates are probably eight to nine
years older than her, at least!
Truth is that there are
many bright, exceptional students hailing from poor families but there is only
one Sushma Verma. In 2007, she entered the Limca Book of Records as the
youngeststudent to
clear the class X exam. At age 10, she was already sure of her career path and
wanted to be a doctor for which she gave the Uttar Pradesh Combined Premedical
Test (UCPMT). University rules, however, prohibited her from pursuing her
academic goals and her result was withheld.
Wise and way matured
for her age, Sushma told The Times of India in an interview, “A person should
always be judged by his or her talent and potential, not by age. I desperately
wanted to become a doctor but now I have to wait till I turn 17 — it’s a huge
disappointment for me.”
What’s also truly
amazing is that this kind of badassery runs in her family. Her older brother,
Shailendra, proved his mettle when he became the youngest computer science
graduate in India at the age of 14 in 2007. However, what has truly made all
her accomplishments special is the fact that she graduated from the same
college where her father works as a sanitation worker. Her 51-year-old father
Tej Bahadur was in fact a daily wage worker before Vice-Chancellor of BBAU
college Dr R C Sobti helped him get a job on campus as a sanitation supervisor,
so that he could support his daughter and rest of the family.
It’s rather obvious
that Sushma is an inspiration for
every student alike. The nation is truly in awe of her spectacular
achievements. And if children like Sushma are India’s future pioneers, then
rest assured ‘India Shining’ is more of a reality, less of a dream!
