65 year old writes Xth

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Lucknow, Mar 20 (UNI) A 65-year-old vegetable vendor and a seven-year-old girl have set records -- one for appearing in the class tenth s for the 37th time and the other for being the youngest candidate in India to write the same exam.

Jabbar Ali is no ordinary student in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh to appear in the class tenth s. He has created a record of sorts by failing to clear in the exam for 36 times.

He first appeared in the exam in 1966 as a 24-year-old. Now he hopes to clear class twelfth. District Inspector of Schools (Fatehpur) Prem Pratap Maurya has lost hope though. ''We were hopeful...now the hope is fast fading as he is unable to concentrate on his studies ,'' he said.

Maurya added that 'Baba', as he is fondly called, has never been found using unfair means to pass the exam despite repeated failures.

For the first 30 years, Jabbar was a student of Nehru Inter College.

Now his new school is Dayanand Inter College.

Sushma Verma in the capital city has become the youngest candidate to appear in the class tenth exams. At seven, she has come very close to becoming the youngest matriculate in the country.

Daughter of a daily wager, Sushma would break the record of Patna's Tathagat Avtaar Tulsi forbeing the youngest matriculate if she clears the exam, results are which are due in May.

Sushma managed a direct admission in class ninth following the intervention of the Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad of the state government. Before that she had never been to school.

Her principal Anita Ratra claimed the teachers had trained the seven-year-old to write for three hours at a stretch before the examinations to ensure long writing hours do not take a toll on the girl's hands. At St Meera's Inter College, Sushma is a sponsored student who is not charged fees.

Interestingly, her elder sibling Shailendra is completing his Bachelor of Computer Application (BCA) from the Lucknow University at the age of 14. Shailendra had cleared his class twelfth at the age of 11 from the National Open School without tuitions.