13 Yr Old Girl Begins Masters Studies In Microbiology

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 north
India has enrolled in 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.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.
"They allowed me to do what I wanted to do," Verma
said in an interview Sunday, speaking her native
language of Hindi. "I hope that other parents don't
impose their choices on their children."
Sushma lives a very modest life with her three younger
siblings and her parents — eating, sleeping and
studying alongside them in a cramped single-
room apartment in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar
Pradesh state.
Their only income is her father's daily wage of up to
200 rupees (less than $3.50) for laboring on
construction sites. Their most precious possessions
include a study table and a second-hand computer.
It is not a great atmosphere for studying, she admitted.
"There are a lot of dreams … All of them cannot be
fulfilled."
But having no television and little else at home has
advantages, she said. "There is nothing to do but
study."
Sushma begins her studies next week at Lucknow's B.
R. Ambedkar Central University, though her father is
already ferrying her to and from campus each day on
his bicycle so she can meet with teachers before classes
begin.
Her first choice was to become a doctor, but she cannot
take the test to qualify for medical schooluntil she is 18.
"So I opted for the MSc and then I will do a doctorate,"
she said.
Sushma — a skinny, poised girl with shoulder-length
hair — is not the first high-achiever in her family. Her
older brother graduated from high school at 9, and in
2007 became one of India's youngest computer science
graduates at 14.
In another family, Sushma might not have been able to
follow him into higher education. Millions of Indian
children are still not enrolled in grade school, and many
of them are girls whose parents choose to hold them
back in favor of advancing their sons. Some from
conservative village cultures are expected only to get
married, for which their families will go into debt to
pay exorbitant dowry payments, even though they are
illegal.
For Sushma, her father sold his only pieces of land —
10,000 square feet (930 square meters) in a village
in Uttar Pradesh — for the cut-rate price of 25,000
rupees (about $400) to cover some of herschool fees.
"There was opposition from my family and friends, but
I did not have any option," said her father, Tej Bahadur
Verma.
The rest of Sushma's school fees will come from a
charity that traditionally works in improving rural
sewage systems, which gave her a grant of 800,000
rupees (about $12,600).
"The girl is an inspiration for students from elite
backgrounds" who are born with everything, said Dr.
Bindeshwar Pathak of Sulabh International, who
decided to help after seeing a local television program
on Sushma. She is also receiving financial aid from
well-wishing civilians and other charities.