Arfa Karim

Arfa Karim was a Pakistani student and computer prodigy who became the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) in 2004, when she was only nine years old. She was submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records for her achievement. She was born in Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan, on 2 February 1995. She was the daughter of Mujahid Ali, an army officer, and Samina Amjad, a housewife. She had a younger brother, Awais. She studied at the Army Public School in Peshawar and later at the Lahore Grammar School in Lahore. She was interested in computers and technology from a young age and learned to program in various languages. She passed the Microsoft exam in 2004 and became the youngest MCP in the world. She received an invitation from Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, to visit the Microsoft headquarters in the United States. She met him and other Microsoft executives and discussed her ideas and projects. She also gave interviews to various media outlets and impressed everyone with her intelligence and confidence. She returned to Pakistan and became a national icon. She gave numerous television and newspaper interviews and received many awards and honors from the government and other organizations. She also represented Pakistan on various international forums, such as the TechEd Developers Conference in Barcelona, Spain, in 2006. She was also appointed as a cultural ambassador for UNICEF. She had a dream of studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and becoming a software engineer. She also wanted to establish a computer lab in her village and help other young people learn IT skills. She was passionate about improving the education system and human resource development in Pakistan. She fell ill in December 2011 and suffered a cardiac arrest after an epileptic seizure. She was admitted to the Combined Military Hospital in Lahore, where she remained in a coma for 26 days. She died on 14 January 2012, at the age of 16. She was buried in her ancestral village of Ram Diwali in Faisalabad. She was mourned by the whole nation and received tributes from various national and international figures, including the president and prime minister of Pakistan, Bill Gates, and Malala Yousafzai. A science park in Lahore, the Arfa Software Technology Park, was named after her in her honor. She is regarded as one of the most influential and inspiring young people in the history of Pakistan.