Re: IIT JEE high ranker is just 14 and home schooled

On 5/28/2010 11:46 AM, Romanise wrote:
On May 28, 4:42 pm, "Myself, PresentContinuouslyTenseMallu"
<KalluMallu...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 5/27/2010 9:08 AM, Romanise wrote:



On May 27, 2:59 pm, "Myself, PresentContinuouslyTenseMallu"
<KalluMallu...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 5/26/2010 10:02 PM, Romanise wrote:

On May 27, 5:31 am, "Myself, PresentContinuouslyTenseMallu"
<KalluMallu...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
A news story of interest to Romanise

Sahal Kaushik, son of an Army man and doctor, created history by topping
IIT JEE in Delhi at 14 years of age (he has an all-India rank of 33 in
the IIT exam).

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Delhi/Delhi-IIT-JEE-topper-is...

The other curious bit is that he was entirely homeschooled by his mother
(gave up her medical practice) through 8th Std. He joined school in
2006, cleared his X Std. exam in 2008. He finished his XII Std. from
Vandana Intl. School in Dwaraka - didn't do too well in his XII exam
(78% PCM). But over the last two years, the kid has had a group of
teachers who taught him exclusively for 6 hours a day, 6 days of the week.

Apparently the parents spent all their earnings in building up a library
(around 2000 books and Rs. 15 lakh worth) for this very gifted kid.

After cracking the JEE, Sahal plans to go into the science stream
(5-year MSc course at IIT KNP) and not into engineering.

Amazing!

Home tutored. If he was out of school until he joined school n 2006 to
take X (SSC) Exam the School Prinvipal must have done some cooking.

The IIT JEE has no lower age limit, but requires a high school cert to
get into the system. The high school cert requires the kid to sit the
exams after the Principal has attested the kid's exam 'hall ticket'
application. Does the Principal have to attest the kid has x number of
years of schooling? Perhaps the attestation is simply that the kid was a
legit student of the school at the time of application for a 'hall
ticket.' That gives room to maneuver for both parents and the Principal.
Interesting.

As per Gujarat Board if a student is out of school after VIII he can
take X(SSC) after 3 years but without Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
It is possible he stayed out of school mother producing medical
certificates. For him to clear VIII at 10, he had to do 2 years 3
times, considering he joined school on competing 5. Boy could have
gone through CBSE recognised school, but even there the rules are same
and same for NIOS.

The kid did not set foot in a school until IX. So, 'double promotions'
many times over wouldn't have made a difference. The Principal of the
school in which the kid 'enrolled' for IX/X must have been very
accommodating. Even the 'enrollment' in XI/XII must have been notional -
the kid had 6 teachers exclusively assigned to him for 6 days of the
week. Does not sound like classroom experience to me. Anything works in
India - one must know how to bend the rules to get ahead.

Taking a child directly into X cannot be according to rules. A
Principal may take a child in say at 2nd, 3rd or 4th standard by
giving him special test which again is not as per rules. I know my
cousin was made to jump two standards at the beginning, but has to
start at 1st standard. The cousin got tired at SSC.

It is going to be unhealthy for 14 years old in hostels.

This is going to interesting. Schools are important for children to get socialized (maybe not perfectly, but...). For a child that has been sheltered and home tutored, I expect it will be tough to make the transition, esp. if he is going to get into a hostel system with 16+ year olds. Hope he can cope, and hope he does well.
.

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