Daughter of a sanitation worker, 15-year-old Sushma Varma is India's youngest MSc

Meet Sushma Varma who hails from the Bargawan area on the outskirts of Lucknow. When she was pursuing her MSc, her classmates, on an average, were about eight years older than her. She is only 15, and in a rare feat, has cleared MSc (Microbiology) at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar (Central) University, thus becoming India’s youngest girl with an MSc degree.

What makes her story even more inspiring is that she is graduating from the same college where her father is currently working as a sanitation worker. Only two years ago, her father, Tej Bahadur was a daily-wage labourer. Dr R V Sobti , the Vice-Chancellor of Sushma’s college helped him secure the job in the college campus, so that he could support his talented daughter.

Sushma is not the only prodigy in her family. Indiatimes reported how her elder brother completed his BCA at age of 14, and her three-year old younger sister is getting ready to break all her records. She can already read poems meant for 8th grade students, and wishes to follow her sister’s footsteps. In an interview with the Indian Express, Sushma said, “I now want to pursue PhD, perhaps in agricultural microbiology. During our field visits, we realised that the soil in and around Lucknow is becoming more arid by the day, so I would like to try and find out a way to make the city greener.”

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