Shafay Thobani: World’s Youngest MCTS or self-proclaimed child prodigy?

Eight-year-old Pakistani claims to be youngest MCTS, reports say Microsoft does not keep track of ages.

KARACHI: Shafay Thobani, an eight-year-old Pakistani, claimed to be the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) during a press conference on Tuesday. However, ProPakistani reported on Wednesday that the title is nothing but a self-proclamation.

During the press conference at the Marriot Hotel, Shafay, wearing a two-piece suit was flanked by his family members and a trainer, and was seated at the centre of the stage with his feet dangling from his chair.

But when ProPakistani contacted Microsoft regarding the claim, it was confirmed that Shafay’s certification is legitimate, but surprisingly the claim of being the world’s youngest MCTS could not be verified as Microsoft does not count the age of its professionals.

On the one hand, ProPakistani claimed that Shafay’s guardians went a “step ahead” to hire a PR agency to organise the press conference to “push their son to the media” rather than pulling the media, while on the other hand, Shafay’s father said that the family was hiding this from the media that Shafay is attempting to become the world’s youngest MCTS.

“But now when he has finally got through the certification successfully, this is worth celebrating,” said Dr Shah Thobani. “Today I stand here not as a father, but as a proud Pakistani.”

According to ProPakistani, Microsoft is worried about these self-proclaimed child prodigies, who have been surfacing very often now – some of them even being fake.

When contacted by ProPakistani, a Microsoft official said that the company has already ‘disowned’ Shafay for his claim of being the “world’s youngest MCTS” and also announced that Microsoft does not keep track of ages of its certified professionals.