10 Year Old Nigerian Girl Tops University Exam in England

Esther Okade of Walsall, England may wear pigtails in her hair and loves Disney’s Frozen like many other kids her age, but she’s far from an ordinary 10-year-old.

She's the little genius who has scored top-of-the-class grades in both Maths GCSE and A-Level - at the age of just TEN.



And now Esther Okade, from Walsall, is setting her sights on a degree after achieving the astonishing exam double.

Incredibly, the youngster first passed Maths GCSE with a C-grade at just six-years-old, scoring an A-grade a year later.

Last week the maths-whizz scooped an incredible B-grade at A-Level in Pure Maths - eight years ahead of her peers.

Delighted dad Paul said his daughter has now set her sights on a degree, which she will complete online.

“I cannot tell you how happy and proud I am as a father,” said 42-year-old Paul. “The desire of every parent is to see their children exceed them, and take the family name to great heights, and my children have done just that.”

Esther, who is home-schooled by her mother Efe, sat the exams at Ounsdale School in Wolverhampton.

Engineering graduate Efe explained that finding a school to let her daughter sit the secondary school exams was a big challenge.

“I rang up a few schools in the area to see if she could sit the exam, but people would just laugh and put down the phone,” said the 36-year-old mum-of-two. “I think they thought I was joking.

“But Ounsdale School agreed. They were the only ones mad enough to take her. The day she went for the exam everyone was staring and looking at this little girl!”

Esther, who dreams of one day opening her own bank, sat her first GCSE exams at the school in 2010 but was kept in a private room as to not distract the other students.

“Esther is a very fast learner” said Efe. “By the time she was four I had taught her the alphabet, her numbers, and how to add, subtract, multiply and division. I saw that she loved patterns so developed a way of using that to teach her new things.

“I thought I would try her with algebra, and she loved it more than anything.

“But she is a normal little girl - she loves Barbie and princesses and making loom bands.”

Now little brother Isaiah is set to follow in his big sister’s footsteps by taking his GCSE Maths exam next year – aged six.

“Every child is a genius,” said Efe. “It is all just finding out the best way for each child to learn.”


In fact, the mini math prodigy isn’t like many adults, either. Esther, who is studying to complete a university undergraduate degree, is one of the UK’s youngest university students. And for the 10-year-old, that’s an easy feat. She only enrolled three weeks ago but is already at the top of her class, scoring a 100 percent on a recent test.

    Her mother, Efe, said applying to the university was “an interesting process because of her age.”

         She said: “We even had to talk to the Vice Chancellor.


    “After they interviewed her they realized that this has been her idea from the beginning.
 

    “From the age of seven Esther has wanted to go to university.
 
    “But I was afraid it was too soon. “She would say, ‘Mum, when am I starting?’, and go on and on and on.

   “Finally, after three years she told me, ‘Mum I think it is about time I started university now.”

     Esther applied in August, and after a phone interview, an essay and a maths exam, she finally got the news in December that she had been accepted onto the course.

   
    “She was flying,” said Efe. “She was so happy.”

And there must be something about the Okades — Esther’s younger brother is also exhibiting some impressive math skills, already solving calculus and advanced algebra problems.

“Isaiah is following in his sister’s footsteps. Even when he was in my tummy Esther was already teaching him.”

Maybe Esther and Isaiah can go into business together one day — the 10-year-old has plans to own her own bank at the age of 15 and wants to be a millionaire.

We’ll work for her. Good luck in university, Esther.