A Genius Child
15 May, 2018KHARTOUM (SUDANOW)— He was the first child in the Middle East to win the membership of Mensa IQ Society, the world's largest and oldest high IQ society for the genius persons who constitute 1% of total world population.
This was Morsi Khalid Morsi, a Sudanese child who has dominated the Arab media over the past decade with his early high intellectual faculty.
Morsi reappeared in the limelight last week with his latest invention of a robot programming for a Qatari government institution that is engaged in technological assistance to the persons with disabilities. For this invention Morsi was honored in an international conference by the Qatari Minister of Transport and Communication.
Our genius was born in 2001 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the first child of his family. His father Khalid Morsi, speaking from Qatar in a telephone interview to SUDANOW, said:
"We noticed that Morsi began to read Arabic and English languages fluently at the two and a half years of age before attending a kindergarten or a school. He was able to identify the national flags and capitals of all nations of the world, beside reciting the Holy Koran articulately and dealing with the computer adroitly at two or three years of age."
"We returned to Sudan where we met Dr. Al-Zubair Beshir Taha, who was then Minister of Technological Science and Dr. Omar Haroun al-Khalifa, the representative of the International Council for the Gifted Children in Sudan. Morsi underwent four IQ tests in which he scored the highest rate of intelligence recorded in Sudan, which was 168 degrees, higher than that of Egyptian-American scientist Ahmed Zewail and Albert Einstein." Khalid said.
The father further added that his son holds reports that verify his ingenuity from the Amman-based Arab Council for the Gifted and Brilliant Persons, for the Sudanese Psychological Society and the Omdurman-based Taqwa Psychological Center for Measurement and Treatment in addition to comparisons with examples of intelligence standards for celebrities, leaders, scientists and artists.
Dr. Khalifa says in his report that Morsi possesses a high capacity for identifying the geometrical shapes, colors of different grades and the names of animals in both Arabic and English languages. He has a remarkable interest in the brands of different motorcars and he is obsessed with the car-race games on the net and since he was 18 months old, Morsi clung to Aljazeera TV Channel. Morsi possesses extraordinary guts and a high self-confidence, amazing curiosity and excessive sensitivity.
"When he was four years and two months of age, Morsi underwent an intelligence test at a specialized center that applies the international intelligence standards. He was subjected to preliminary Denver questionnaire on children's growth and when it was found out that his ingenuity exceeds the standard set for his age and other ages, the center had to apply Stanford Benehu standard which suits the supernatural intelligence and the multiple mental capacities. He scored 952 degrees, exceeding the normal score by 288 degrees," said the father.
An anecdote reported by two journalists who visited his family when he was still about four years; one of them asked Morsi about Hitler, the child answered: "He was a German Nazi leader but he is lower than me."
"Lower than you in what?"
"In the IQ," saying this in English.
"What does IQ mean, Morsi?"
Morsi raised his head and looked at the journalist apparently sympathetic of his ignorance and replied in confidence: "It is the rate of intelligence."
Dr. Khalifa says such ingenuity is a real national wealth if it is invested in a proper way and therefore caring for such a person as Morsi is a tremendous responsibility that must be assumed by the State rather than a family or an individual.
His father returned with him to the Sudan on grounds that his homeland deserves him, but he did not find any support from the State, except for individual efforts by Professor Omar Haroun and Dr. Al-Zubair Beshir Taha.
"Difficulties landed on us in succession, some of them were connected with the absence of a computer programme in Sudan that absorbs the tremendous capacities of Morsi. His daily suffering was going to the school and his mother had to accompany him to the school every day, leaving his baby sister behind at home," the father said.
Amidst these difficult circumstances, Sheikhah Mozah (the wife of the Amir of Qatar and mother of the incumbent Amir) stretched to them a helping hand without seeking a favor, as put by Khalid, the father. Qatar was so generous that it granted Morsi a full scholarship since he was at KG and, God willing, he will sit for International Bacaloria examination next year after which he will enroll in the University.
Khalid added in the interview to SUDANOW about his son: "He is now a walking encyclopedia, if you ask him about anything and he can give detailed and latest information on it."
Morsi's inventions are presently being followed by thousands of people on Instgram@madacenter, (mada is a Qatari assistive technology center).
Before the assistance it offered Morsi, Qatar Organization for Education, Science and Community Development has sponsored Ahmed Mohamed, the Sudanese child who attracted the world public opinion after he was arrested by the American Texas State for suspicion of brining a bomb to his school while he was in fact carrying a digital watch clock he invented and wanted to show it to his teachers.
Professor Hashim al-Obaid, the Principal of the Development Research and Studies Institute, told SUDANOW that caring for the genius and brilliant children is a responsibility of the State and the government which has to establish special centers and academies for them. Specialized teachers, if necessary, may be brought from abroad for enhancement of their capacities and languages. Such persons can constitute a nucleus for the Sudan in all sciences and technologies and can be relied upon for lading and developing the country in all scientific spheres.
Professor Obaid cited an example of a German young man of not more than 19 who has managed to break through all air-defenses of Russia, a super power, and flew in the 1980s from Berlin to Moscow in a small aircraft and landed in front of the Kremlin. Many historians believe that the adventure by this young man has contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Isam Abdul Salam, the Director of Alwafir Training Center, said: "The capacities of Sudanese children of extraordinary intelligence are usually discovered abroad where the environment and curricula supportive of innovation and discovery are in abundance and therefore their return home becomes impossible at present. In order to prevent the migration of such persons from the outset, education curricula must be developed to help in the discovery of the talents. It is the responsibility of the State to care for them and spend for them in extravagance. The role of the training and development centers is intermediary as, although they possess numerous development programmes, they cannot reach those persons alone."
Madame Aminah Habish, Morsi's mother, suggested the establishment of a Sudanese foundation to care for the talented persons because "there are a million morsis buried under the debris of indifference and negligence."
The importance of the role of the State in a lifelong caring for its talented persons is demonstrated by the very discoverer of gifted Sudanese Dr. Omar Haroun al-Khalifa, a distinguished academic of high-standard local, regional and international accomplishments, who has obscurely disappeared for more than five years without any clue for the police about the motive of his disappearance.
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MAS/AS