Prodigy set to finish M.Sc at age 10

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUPATI, DEC. 5.Master P. Divya Tej, a ten-year old boy, who has currently dug himself into the M.Sc course material, is all set to become, probably, the youngest M.Sc. post-graduate, when the Sri Venkateswara University conducts its next PG exams.

All his friends would be spending time by playing cricket or computer/video games, if he is a generatio next kid. Or would be staring impatiently at their primary schoolbooks, on the pretext of reading or learning by rote. But, this boy has climbed several rungs up in the ladder and is `revising' topics in zoology like genes, anatomy, cells, cell-structure, mutations, etc. and is waiting for the university's next move.

The boy, an ex-student of St.Joseph convent in Guntur, who skipped third standard to join fourth a couple of years back, pestered his father, Mr.S. Udayabhaskar, that he wanted to straightaway write the SSC examinations, as he found all the classes in between `unimpressive'. Taken aback, the boy's father, a private tutor, had approached the then Education Minister, Mr.D.V. Ramana, and sought his permission to get his son write the SSC examination directly.

The Minister, who too was shocked, not only because of the boy's age factor, but also due to the furore which was created at that time by a section of school teachers that the standard of the mathematics and science syllabus that was revised for that year, was too tough even to be understood by them, leave alone, teaching the same to students. Perhaps, not wanting to disappoint the enthustic boy, the Minister got him thoroughly grilled by subject experts, before giving his nod when there were just 10 days left for the exam. And lo, the prodigal boy passed the SSC exam with ease.

From that point, there was no looking back for the boy. Fully motivated by the result, this time he skipped all the Intermediate and graduation courses and set his eyes right on the M.Sc. zoology course, aiming at becoming a scientist, his "life's ambition".

Master Divya Tej said he opted for SV University as he found the zoology syllabus offered by Nagarjuna university (Guntur) to be not up to his standard. The SVU's Vice-Chancellor Prof.K. Enoch, on receiving the boy's application in March last, subjected him to an interview by a three-member panel of experts. The threesome, all professors in SVU's zoology department, engaged the boy in different subjects--Prof. K.V. Ramana Rao, Chairman, Board of Studies grilled him on anatomy/genetics, Prof.N.V. Nanda Kumar in ecology and Prof.K. Jayanth Rao in cell biology, genetics and other related subjects only to find to their utter astonishment that the boy was well-versed with the topics on par with any other M.Sc student.

He was given permission to write the I year examination, after the varsity's Executive Committee approved the proposal.

Says Prof.Nanda Kumar, `the boy has excellent memory power, which could even be equated with a computer'. Now, he wants to write both the first and second year examinations in a single sitting. On asked the reason, all he would say in his boyish, incoherent voice was, `Would it not be a world record if I completed M.Sc in a single sitting at my age?'. With his eyes set in that direction, he has already started preparing notes for the second year's portion and with four more months to go for the exams, he exuded confidence that it would be completed easily.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof.Enoch, introduced the boy to the Governor and the SVU's Chancellor, Dr.C. Rangarajan, who was here recently in connection with the varsity's convocation. He fished out a question or two from the notes the boy had already prepared and carrying with him at that time and posed them to the boy. Pat, came the answers to the thrill of the Chancellor.

On the recent gene-mapping issue, the boy speaks much and wants to know further. He said `Genetics' was his interesting subject, as it had all the answers to the problems being faced by the humans. The boy also finds fault with the idea of altering the basic genetic set-up, which, he says, would make the value of `good' lost if the `bad' were permanently removed.`I cannot express in words, but will prove if a laboratory is provided', he argues.

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