LUCKNOW - Sushma Verma of Lucknow has become the country’s youngest matriculate by passing the exam in 2007 when she was just seven years old. She received a formal certificate from the Limca Book of Records Saturday.

Born Feb 2 2000, Sushma Verma achieved this feat when she took the Uttar Pradesh board high school examinations in 2007. She had secured 354 marks out of 600 in the examinations.

‘I owe my success to my teachers and parents,’ Sushma Verma told newspersons Saturday after receiving the certificate from the authorities of the St. Meera’s Inter College here in Hind Nagar.

Sushma Verma, who has taken her class 11 examinations and is awaiting the results, aspires to become a doctor.

‘I want to become a doctor so that I could offer free medical treatment to the needy and poor,’ she said.

‘I also aim to set up my own hospital where I can offer free medical services for the ailing poor’.

Sushma Verma’s father Tej Bahadur Verma is a daily wage labourer, and mother Chhaya is a housewife.

‘By her achievement, my daughter has made the entire city proud,’ said Tej Bahadur Verma.

The record for the youngest matriculate was previously held by Patna’s Tathagat Avatar Tulsi, who accomplished the feat when he was nine years old, officials from Sushma Verma’s school said.

Sushma Verma’s brother Shailendra Verma had passed his Class XII examinations at the age of 11 and cleared the Scholastic Assessment Test and test of English as a foreign language. He secured admission to a US university but could not go owing to financial problems.