Sushma Verma, 13, is honored as \"India's Child Prodigy\" in Lucknow, India. (The Associated Press) <\/p>\n
LUCKNOW, India In a country where many girls are still discouraged from going to school, Sushma Verma is having anything but a typical childhood. <\/p>\n
The 13-year-old girl from a poor family in northern India has enrolled in a program for a master's degree in microbiology, after her father sold his land to pay for some of his daughter's tuition in the hope of catapulting her into India's growing middle class. <\/p>\n
Verma finished high school at 7 and earned an undergraduate degree at age 13 milestones she said were possible only with the sacrifices and encouragement of her uneducated and impoverished parents. <\/p>\n
\"They allowed me to do what I wanted to do,\" Verma said. She lives with three younger siblings and her parents in a cramped single-room apartment in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state. <\/p>\n
Having no television and little else at home has advantages, she said. \"There is nothing to do but study.\" <\/p>\n
Her older brother graduated from high school at 9, and in 2007 became one of India's youngest computer science graduates at 14. <\/p>\n
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to an editing error Sushma Verma's age was misstated in the headline. Verma is 13 years old. <\/p>\n
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See original here: Sushma Verma, 13, is honored as \"India's Child Prodigy\" in Lucknow, India. (The Associated Press) LUCKNOW, India In a country where many girls are still discouraged from going to school, Sushma Verma is having anything but a typical childhood. The 13-year-old girl from a poor family in northern India has enrolled in a program for a master's degree in microbiology, after her father sold his land to pay for some of his daughter's tuition in the hope of catapulting her into India's growing middle class. Continue reading
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