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8-year-old Lucknow boy set to appear in UP Board high school exams in 2021
According to the board’s standard rules, a student needs to be at least 14 years of age to appear in Class 10 board exams. It is only once in a while that exceptions are made in some special cases. And child prodigy Aditya, who will turn 9 on October 17, is one of them.
The UP Board has granted special permission to an eight-year-old boy from Lucknow, Rashtram Aditya Shri Krishna, to take admission in Class 9 in one of its affiliated schools, paving way for him to appear in high school examinations in 2021, at the age of 10 years.
According to the board’s standard rules, a student needs to be at least 14 years of age to appear in Class 10 board exams. It is only once in a while that exceptions are made in some special cases. And child prodigy Aditya, who will turn 9 on October 17, is one of them.
“Aditya has never been to any school. He was getting education at home (from his parents). However, this week, after the UP Board gave him special permission, he got admission in Class 9 at a school in Nakkhas area of Lucknow,” said his astrologer-author father, Professor Pawan Kumar Acharya.
“Aditya has always been extraordinarily talented. He spends a lot of time in my private library, browsing through and reading advanced books. He is extremely studious and curious, and comes up with a lot of questions. We moved an application with the UP Board and it was acknowledged,” said Acharya.
He said that the boy was quick to grasp any concept taught to him. “Aditya has learnt so many things that even a senior student may find difficult to understand. We are happy that the Board has given him special permission to enrol in Class 9. I am confident that he will be able to cope well with the syllabus and compete with other students who are much older to him,” said Acharya.
Earlier, joint secretary, UP government, Jai Shankar Dubey, in a letter to the secretary of the Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad had directed the official to help the child get admission in a school. Subsequently, the district inspector of schools, Mukesh Singh, in consultation with Aditya’s parents, got him enrolled at the MD Shukla Inter College, affiliated to UP Board.
School principal HN Upadhyay said, “I was very impressed with the child. He has knowledge in all the subjects. I am sure that with the guidance of our teachers, he will do well and bring laurels to the institution by passing the 2021 Class 10 board examination with flying colours.”
OTHER CHILD PRODIGIES OF LUCKNOW
Sushma Verma of Lucknow became the country’s youngest matriculate in 2007 when she passed the UP Board high school examinations. Born on February 2, 2000, Sushma was just seven years old at the time. The achievement earned her a place in the Limca Book of Records. She secured 354 marks out of 600 in the exams.
At 15, Sushma added another feather to her cap by becoming the youngest postgraduate in the country. She followed this up by becoming the youngest Indian to enrol in a PhD course (at the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) Lucknow).
Sushma outdid her elder brother, Shailendra, who became the youngest computer science graduate in the country in 2007. Shailendra was just 14 when he completed his Bachelor of Computer Applications (BSA) course. At present, he is pursuing MBA from a Bengaluru-based institute.
Shailendra passed Class 12 at the age of 11. He also cleared the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and secured admission at a university in the United States of America. However, he could not join the university due to financial problems.
