Six-year-old Ayan becomes youngest Microsoft Certified Professional

Ayan Qureshi, 6, became the world's youngest Microsoft Certified Professional after passing the exam when he was just five years old, a report published by the BBC Asian Network said.

The test is usually taken by people who want to become IT technicians.

Ayan's father Qureshi, an IT specialist, told BBC that he introduced his son to computers when he was three years old to make him understand the functioning of hard drives and motherboards.

"I found whatever I was telling him, the next day he'd remember everything I said, so I started to feed him more information," the report quoted Ayan's father as saying. Ayan's family moved from Pakistan to England in 2009.

"Too much computing at this age can cause a negative effect, but in Ayan's case he has cached this opportunity."

Qureshi told BBC that when the boy had arrived to take the Microsoft exam, the invigilators were concerned that he was too young to be a candidate.

Ayan spends two hours a day learning about operating system and the way programmes are installed, the report said.

The report quotes Ayan's mother as saying, "I'm very happy and very proud, I don't want to see him set a world record every day. But I want him to do his best whatever he does in his life."

The six-year-old told BBC that he hopes to launch a UK-based IT hub similar to the United Sates' Silicon Valley. (Dawn)

BBC ╤

A boy from Coventry has become the youngest computer specialist in the world.

Ayan Qureshi is now a Microsoft Certified Professional after passing the tech giant's exam when he was just five years old.

Ayan, now six, whose father is an IT consultant, has set up his own computer network at home.

He told the BBC he found the exam difficult but enjoyable, and hopes to set up a UK-based tech hub one day.

"There were multiple choice questions, drag and drop questions, hotspot questions and scenario-based questions," he told the BBC Asian Network.

"The hardest challenge was explaining the language of the test to a five-year-old. But he seemed to pick it up and has a very good memory," explained Ayan's father Asim.