A 12-year-old boy has made academic history by becoming the youngest student to be enrolled into Universiti Malaya (UM).
The news was first broken by Professor Fatimah Kari, who works at UM’s Faculty of Economics and Administration, in a Facebook post on Saturday (Sept 28). But it was later deleted for unknown reasons.
12yo enrolled into Universiti Malaya
The matter was eventually confirmed by UM, where it wrote in a Facebook post that 12-year-old Izz Imil Shahrom was accepted into the university to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics programme at its Faculty of Science.
According to UM Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Seri Dr Noor Azuan Abu Osman, he said Izz had undergone an interview carried out by a special committee and that his admission was later approved by the UM Senate.
Given his young age, UM would like to ask all parties to give Izz space and privacy to pursue his studies and adapt to university life.
“This is because it’s vital for him to have a conducive environment for his personal growth and learning,” he said.
Showed remarkable academic promise at 5yo
Back in 2018, Berita Harian reported of Izz’s intellectual prowess, where he was discovered to be able to solve Form 4 Mathematics and Chemistry questions at just 5 years old.
According to his mother, Izz has mild autism and hyperlexia and also experienced slight difficulties in speaking.
“We tried various efforts to aid his development, but I realized he was more interested in numbers. From there, I took the approach of teaching him by labeling everything using numbers,” she said.
This was also confirmed by Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir, who paid the young prodigy a visit at UM.
“Like any other children his age, Izz is friendly and speaks very fluently. He also has a deep interest in mathematics as our conversation revolved mostly around numbers.
“Let us all pray that Izz will study well, become an excellent student, and be able to contribute the best to society and the country,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
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