A fourth standard girl from rural Tamil Nadu has become the youngest to pass the Microsoft certified professional examination.
The Microsoft exam, usually taken by techies for better job prospects, measures problem-solving skills and Lavinashree (9) passed it with flying colours.
By achieving this feat, she broke the record held by Arfa Karim, a ten-year-old Pakistani girl.
And what's more, the Madurai-based fourth-standard student has already planned her future.
"Dr Kalam is a very big scientist and I want to become like him," Lavinashree said.
Lavinashree is used to creating records. When she was just three, she was listed in the Limca Book of Records for reciting all 1330 couplets of Thirukural, one of the Tamil classics.
After that, her parents decided to encourage her tremendous memory. But an admission to a software programme wasn't easy.
"When we went to them, the guys first refused saying she was too young. They took her only after she proved that she could," said Lavanya, Lavinashree's sister.
The child prodigy's admirers include many national leaders -- from former president APJ Abdul Kalam to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi.
In fact, according to Lavinashree's father, the Tamil Nadu government is likely to announce that they will take care of the child's education. Who knows she might well turn out to be India's Bill Gates one day.
Source: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080077337